Part Two: Cthulhu Dawn
by shallowswan
Summary: 42 years after suffering a terrible defeat from Dracula, but gaining the knowlege of how to destory him, D is faced with the ghosts of both his recent and distant pasts as an unfathomable evil awakens. Sequal to Illusions. Crossover with H.P Lovecraft.
1. Chapter 1: Fhtagn

**Part Two: Cthulhu Dawn**

_Note: This story is a sequel to one of my previous ones, Illusions. I recommend you read that first, as I only keep building on my story lines. _

_For those of you already familiar with the story line, I pretty firm set on writing three more short stories for D, all tying in my first one and taking him through his quest. They are a departure from the first. Less love oriented and more drama and inner turmoil. As you can see from the title of this story, the name of the village I put D in becomes important. This first chapter may seem rather odd, but I assure it will all come together soon. Enjoy! )_

_And of course, D is not my original idea, neither is Cthulhu or Dracula. They are only borrowed. _

* * *

**Chapter One: Fhtagn**

"_His condition cannot be described by any word in the languages of man, but in the tongue of the Old Ones he is said to be fhtagn, which means variously meditating, sleeping or dreaming." - The Necronomicon._

**The First Dream: Lily**

_The Year 3,020 A.D _

Shortly after the first rays of moonlight struck her closed eyelids a gorgeous melody coaxed her fully into wakefulness. Captivated, the woman rose from the silken and bloodstained sheets, the moonlight glittering off her pallid skin and haloing her naked form, accentuating her dark hair and eyes.

As the flowing melody played onward her heart thundered in her breast and she covered herself lightly with a dressing gown and began to hunt for the source. Stepping carelessly over the stiff corpses of the humans that littered the floor, she moved out of the vast bedchamber and into the immense sitting room. It was coming from a piano, music so gorgeous that it summoned tears to her pitiless eyes. The only thing more beautiful than those notes where the slender and talented fingers that they flowed from. The creator was bowed low over the keys, his ebony eyes heavy with concentration, and few dark strands of his hair escaped from his pony tail and drifted across his face. His features where narrow, gaunt and utterly elegant, so perfect they were almost feminine…no angelic was more fitting. His was a face like shaped by the Gods themselves.

It was a far cry from the face that had haunted her mercilessly through her life in both her dreams and wakefulness, a twisted, hideous visage shaped not of Gods, but by the horrific power of the stars. That was the face of her _tornasuk._

Smiling, denying the sting of tears in her eyes she crossed the distance between her and the elegant musician and settled down by his side. The gorgeous youth did not seem to pay her heed, his fingers only kept dancing along the keys with impossible dexterity.

"You play beautifully son of Dracula." She murmured.

She saw him stiffen slightly, but his melody never faltered, "I asked you not to call me that." He voice was deep, and steely yet somehow gentle. Almost as if a gleaming, jeweled blade had been granted a voice, "My name is D."

She laughed haughtily, "D? Come now that makes you sound like one of those pathetic, stripling Hunters. Why are you ashamed to share your name with the Sacred Ancestor?

"There is nothing sacred about him.", he answered frigidly.

"Now Dracula, you speak of sacrilege!"

D said nothing, and did not regard her in the slightest as he kept on with his haunting sonata for the next few minutes. When the last note drifted away he raised his eyes to the vampire woman, his bride to be in truth, and he gripped her wrist violently. "What are you doing just staring at me? Why not start fulfilling your future duties and get me something to drink."

Dutifully the woman nodded, smiling ever so softly, "What do you wish, Dracula?"

"A blonde." He answered although there was no real interest in his voice as he rose and moved toward one of the many floor length windows, pulling aside the heavy drape. She left the room and returned a moment later clutching a wildly struggling blond slave to her breast, locking her there with her iron grip. The woman put up quite a fight but as D turned around and met the woman's eyes with his own dark, cold ones all trace of resistance was lost. The girl stood stark still, transfixed by the way the moonlight shone off his marble skin. The son of Dracula needed only the beckon with is hand, and the woman rushed into his opened arms, sighing with rapture as she fell against his broad chest. The vampire bride watched with her own heated gaze as D's eyes burned crimson, and with a slender hand her grabbed the slave's neck and forced her to bare her throat. His lips curled back in a beastly snarl, baring thick, inch long fangs and he fell onto the girl's neck, biting hard and deeply. A pained, yet rapturous groan escaped the girls mouth.

When he'd drank his fill he let the body crumble down onto the ground, along with the other scattered corpses of humans that littered his chamber from the night before. "You're quite well endowed for a dhampir." She chimed softly, twittering.

The son of Dracula only rolled his onyx colored eyes, an impatient growl rising in his chest, "Don't make foolish innuendos."

The vampire bride said nothing, and only moved closer in his unwilling embrace, pressing herself up against his muscled chest, D stood completely immobile. Her gaze fell to the scene past the window, down onto the miserable, bloodied backs of the humans that toiled desperately in the quarries. None of them where clothed, the King of Vampires worked them until the clothing fell from their backs and then until their bones snapped from beneath them. Castle Dracula sprawled wider, higher and more luxurious than any other castle within Nobel knowledge, and if the King of Vampires had his way than generation, after generation of slaves would work to ensure that it remained that way forever. The view of the wretched humans stretched on for miles either way.

"It's gorgeous isn't it Dracula? Seeing those dogs in fields…knowing that we will forever surpass them. Nothing will ever tear our kind from the heavens….we are as the stars, beautiful, ageless and immortal."

The son of Dracula said nothing….or rather he should have. This was not how it was supposed to be….no she could remember it well. No…this time had passed. This was just a memory now…a random dream. She knew it. D had said nothing. But this time he was speaking. His voice was guttural, and distorted as though some other terrible being was speaking through him.

_You brainless child. The stars are not deathless. There will come a time when the universe flickers and dies into darkness, it's as inevitable as your downfall you foolish bloodsucker._

Desperately the vampire bride blinked and shook her head trying to discern between the world of dreams and memory, "Did you say something Dracula…"

His black eyes where distant, lifeless orbs. Again his lips moved but the voice was not his.

_Wake up Lily Odette. Stop dreaming. You have work to do. I have work to do._

"No…no I won't! Leave me alone!" she panicked and turned from his grasp, but the dhampir held her fast his strength far outweighing her own. She shrieked in horror as she saw that his face had changed no longer fair and beautiful, but was bulbous and writhing with gelatinous tentacles, three pairs of small, glaring red eyes rested on each side of the twisted continence. As horrific as it was, and despite the scream it raised from her panicked form, it was a face she knew so well…it was of her _tornasuk._

"Let me go…" she begged, powerless against the claw wrapped about her supple body.

_Wake up, bloodsucker. Wake up, Lily Odette. Wake me up…._

It was the year 12,615 when the former vampire bride, Lily Odette opened her eyes and writhed, screaming out in terror within her coffin. For 700 years she'd lain in hibernation, her body showing only the faintest signs of life yet she had dreamed. She dreamed of days long past, such as the short lived day she'd loved the son of Dracula, dreamed of the shameful swine that had over run the world above. Long ago her _tornasuk _had called this sleep _ftaghan_, and had lead her into the same living dead state as himself.

Still shrieking she began to claw her way to the surface.

* * *

**The Second Dream: Cthulhu**

_Filth_

_All of them are filth._

_All of them deserve to die. Die writhing in agony. Slowly. _

_In time. There are many of them. I have my chance… but most I will just rip apart._

_Tired of dreaming, dreams are so hollow._

_Every last one must die in the end. _

_A new era must begin._

_Yes_

_YES!_

_I can feel it now, YES! The stars are right!_

_Wake me up. _

_Must wake, must rip, must devour….blood alone cannot fulfill me. _

_The world is going to taste like shit. Nothing else in habits it now. Mortal and immortal like, they wallow like swine._

_Things are changing._

_Earthly pigs for the slaughter. _

_I am going to change it!_

_Man. Beast. Immortal. Oblivion for them all. _

_Nothing can stop me now. Nothing can stop me now. Nothing can stop me now._

_Wake up Lily Odette. Wake up my slaves. It's time._

_Have to wake up._

_Have to wake up…….._

None paid much attention to the horrific, slime coated walls of the ruins that had suddenly arose from the sea this year. They preferred to avert their eyes from the grotesque statues, the whimsical structures that where built at impossible angels from metallic green stone that none had could have possibly been of this world. They most certainly never gazed at the black monolith that jutted from mountain at the center of these ruins, like a blade meant to pierce the sky. It was not unusual for such ruins of the Nobility to rise from the oceans, or to appear from seemingly nowhere as the defenses that hid them at last failed.

But these were not Nobel ruins.

Deep within forgotten ruins of R'lyeh, entombed with the mountain, the leviathan was stirring. The slightest twitch of his claw caused the walls to shutter, a stir of his gargantuan clawed leg caused the earth to convulse in protest, and massive wall of water radiated outward from the forgotten, ocean locked ruins and raced toward land.

* * *

**The Third Dream: D**

D could not take his eyes off the dagger that was set in the center of the table. It glittered dully right beside the large ham and the basket of apples. What was is doing there? Its jagged blade was not fit for a dinner table; its tarnished surface suggested that it has seen many decades in battle, for some reason the metal had a strange bluish sheen to it. This weapon was simply wrong… it did not belong.

A pale hand lightly touched his, a familiar emerald glitter rested on her slender fingers. D lifted his gaze, "Your acting quite strange today D," Luna whispered.

D shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, but frowned when he discovered that his hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He looked down and saw this he was wearing a richly embroidered velvet doublet and an elegant tunic with doeskin leggings. He felt utterly ridiculous like this. "I don't feel right. Something is wrong."

'What?', his wife pressed. There was something off about her as well. Her silvery hair was piled in an elaborate styling of braids atop of her head; she wore a beautiful crown of blooming roses and lilies. It was common for her to wear vines through her hair, to pull it back in a few braids, but D had never seen anything as intricate as this. She wore a gown of pure white with silver thread work; she gleamed like a diamond in the torchlight. No…Luna would never wear anything as fancy as this…she was always so simple, so earthen. What seemed strangest however was the wedding ring upon her finger. It did not belong. "Wilhelmina! Don't play with your food." The Nymph snapped lightly, shooting a sharp glance across the vast, mahogany table.

Astonished, D saw the heavenly face of a child staring at him. His daughter. She was a child of about six in mortal years, her face as flawless as a cherub and skin nigh translucent. D recognized his own narrow features in her face, his dark wavy hair but her jewel like eyes were defiantly her mothers. She'd piled a sampling of all the food the table had to offer but only pushed it about her plate, frowning. She raised her face and then beamed at D, "Why are you staring at me funny? Do you want my food?" she chimed hopefully.

Mystified, D shook his head, "You know that I don't eat much Mina."

"You never ever eat Daddy." She giggled and poked at her salad.

"Sweetie," raised a soft, calm voice, "I had such a hard time getting your father to eat. Please don't to the same for him." At the head of the table sat his mother, her dark hair was also fixed elaborately and she wore a lace gown the color of midnight…no…Mina Murray would never wear black…

Sitting next to her, a wine glass held in his jeweled hand was _him. _Vlad Dracula was as picturesque as always, his eyes glittering above a mischievous smirk. Only then did D recognized the vast, torch lit dining hall they "feasted" in to be that of Castle Dracula's. It must have been a family gathering, sitting across from Luna where two gleaming beings, the woman a Nymph who shares many of Luna's features, the man an elf with cruel eyes but white silver - colored hair. D could have sworn he'd never seen her parents before now…had she ever mentioned them?

"You certainly do seem out of sorts today, D." came a slow, accented voice that filled him to the core with loathing. D glared coldly at his father as the vampire raised a crimson filled glass to his lips.

"Don't!" D hissed, "Don't you dare drink that in front of my daughter."

Dracula only smirked wider, "Ashamed of what you are still? Pathetic. I think that _she_ already knows." He drank deep of the bloody draught.

Blindly D surged forward and he grabbed the misplaced dagger off the table.

As thought knowing what was to come Luna bolted forward and grasped his hand, "Don't do it D, please! I miss you!" At her odd words D's eyes strayed down to her hand that bore her wedding ring. It WAS out of place…looking down at his own hand D saw that he was wearing very same ring. He'd taken from her, he could recall it now…

"D…look to the left when you see only the darkness. But first look west…" Luna gasped quickly, as though uttering the message left her worn out. Before he could make any sense of it a thin scream lifted his attention back across the table. He saw his daughter's eyes grow wide; saw her hand clutch desperately at the arrow that protruded from her heart before she slumped down onto the table.

"NO!" D roared and rose up from his seat. His clothes where different now; ink black and armored, his hair flowed freely about his face.

Luna's eyes had turned sightless; a crimson stain appeared on her breast before she fell back in her chair. Mina blinked sadly, tears rolling down her cheeks before she crumbled like dust caught in the wind. There was no sign of Luna's unnamed parents; there was only D and the Sacred Ancestor.

He only smiled yet again, exposing his permanent fangs, "You could not have been happy my son? You could have lived in that illusion forever you know. Is your hated so strong that you must deny yourself all happiness?"

"It was a poor illusion." D answered and held up his left hand that bore his wedding ring. "You forgot to get rid of this, not to mention thanks to you my daughter never drew breath. Do you think that I am stupid?" D clinched the aged dagger in his hands, it's strangely colored blade gleaming.

"Have it your way then." Dracula sighed.

D raised the dagger and flew toward Dracula.


	2. Chapter 2: Eternal

**Cthulhu Dawn**

_Note: Yes…if you haven't read the first story you better do so now, otherwise you're going to be lost. _

_I am keeping on with D's rather Harry Potter inspired adventure to destroy Dracula. Perhaps I seem lame to blatantly take an idea like that, and then to use Lovecraft monsters as well…but hell all fiction borrows from other fiction. I have no idea if it's intentional or not, or who came first but D's world seems A LOT like Stephen Kings: Dark Tower. So hell…no original ideas. And hey…this IS fan fiction. ;) _

* * *

**Chapter Two: Eternal**

"_And if I never hear your voice my little turtledove, my dear , I still have reason to rejoice, the way ahead is clear." – Johanna, Sweeney Todd. _

"_Such strong words for a dunpeal, but you seem to forget our spirits are eternal."_

"_No Carmella, nothing lasts forever." – Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust._

D felt his feet touching down upon uneven ground, smelled the air change from perfumed and stifling to bitter and briny as he lunged forward and plunged his dagger into the heart of Dracula. There was a slight twinge of agony upon his face, a brilliant flash of light and then nothing at all. Everything faded from view, the Sacred Ancestor, the once familiar dining hall that D had feasted gluttonously from in his callow youth. Only D himself and the dagger within his hand remained existent in the white haze of nothingness.

D forced his eyes shut against the oblivion and when he dared open them again he found that he was somewhere else entirely. He was kneeling upon the sandy floor of a creaking and rotting cabin by the Primal Sea. The sea has almost reclaimed the pitiful structure, crabs scuttled hurriedly about and a vast away of shells dotted the sand. Awareness slowly crept to D's consciousness as he found that his knife had pierced a large, pink conch shell rather than Dracula and shattered it to miniscule shards.

D was uncertain what the importance of this simple ocean side cabin had once been to the Sacred Ancestor, but the importance of this conch was undeniable. At last, after five years of searching he'd destroyed his first vessel.

"Well…only 18 more to go.", sighed a strange voice, "Still…you did pretty damn good there. I would have thought Dracs would have chosen to make his vessels objects of importance, rather than common things like a shell. He's clearly got the advantage there, but you did amazing with that illusion. Even I didn't know what the hell was going on, I couldn't see where I fit in it, but I didn't dare show myself either. It would have taken me weeks to suspect that none of that was real."

D's face showed only a faintest touch of sadness that lingered from the attack as he rose and ground the shell to powder beneath his heel. "What exactly was that vision? How was it so vivid?"

The symboite paused for a moment, thinking, "Well….the theory I am coming up with is that any object that contains a bit of Dracs soul is going to contain all his malice and power as well. I wouldn't put it past him to find away to form a collective consciousness between each of these vessels so that he knows when you've got one. He must still be able to manipulate these soul fragments. A fragment of an ethereal body cannot physically harm, but it sure as hell can confuse you. He was trying to launch a final attack on you. Pretty sorry business this is…it seems every time you destroy a vessel alarms are going to go off in his head. Might as well be firing a flare for him."

D said nothing, and only tightened his fingers around the warped hilt of his blade.

"Now….how about I ask YOU something?" the symboite kept on, "How did you know to use that dagger, the rusty one you've been carrying with you ever since….we'll you know what I am talking about. That seemed to do the trick with this vessel."

D looked down at the simple, aged dagger he'd seen in his dream. The blade was slightly rusted, and had a strange blue tint to it, while the handle was warped as though it had suffered a caustic acid or extreme heat. He'd wielded this dagger 42 years ago in a vain attempt to slay Dracula, had used it to slice a venom filled bullet right in half. Had the bullet struck him it would have meant his death, as it did Luna's. Ever since that day the dagger had taken on this strange appearance. "I don't know." D said, "All I knew was I had to use it….I saw in the dream. It was like it was put there for me."

"Hang on…" the hand moved and touched the blade to its palm, or rather its face and seemed to lick the steel with a miniature red tongue. It paused for a moment, thinking hard and then cried out, "Well well! We are just damned lucky sometimes!"

"What?" D pressed in cold impatience.

"Hold your horses…okay…I think I understand. It seems to me that this blade reacted with the manticore poison when you sliced that bullet. Hardly surprising…that shit will eat at almost anything it touches only this case it didn't destroy it. I'll chalk this to your fancy way with swords, but it seems here that rather the being destroyed, the molecular structure of the steel changed and bonded with the poison. I am sure that Dracs has made these vessels harder than hell to destroy, able to stand just about anything you can throw at them but you cut into that shell without any resistance at all. Manicore poison will eat through just about anything, and now it's a part of blade! HA! Daddy-O just supplied you with the best weapon possible!"

D nodded briefly, ever unspoken as he slipped the blade back into his frayed coat. "I still don't understand how I knew to use it."

For a moment Lefty bit back his words, but in the end decided it was best to speak, "Can you think of nobody who would want to help you? You know when you die your soul doesn't just fade into nothingness. Shouldn't you know that? Didn't you spend 38 years dreaming of the world beyond this one? You know damn well that death doesn't destroy the soul, in fact it frees it. It's more than possible that she can manipulate his illusions to….she put it there for you as an emergency escape…"

"Quite." D growled out clinching his hand tightly, "Don't speak to me about something utterly impossible. Don't remind me of her."

The hand twisted about and amazingly seemed to pry the tightly clinched fingers open. The shocked wizened face glared at D from his palm, "Damn it…now what the HELL is wrong with you! Why do you have to be such a huge hemorrhoid on my nonexistent ass? I know a shit load more about the world beyond than you D and I know damn well that the spirit is eternal!"

'No. Nothing lasts forever." He answered calmly.

"Says you! But I am quite a bit older than you, and I've seen true love again and again…"

"I thought I told you not to talk to me about this!" D began a slightly rise pitching his steely tone. "I thought I told you I never wanted to speak of her again."

"Well fuck it, I am! And you know something D…she loved you a hundred times more than you ever loved her. Frankly I am getting damned sick of this heartbroken act when you never even gave her gifts and rarely said you loved her. It took her death for you to even appreciate her…'

Suddenly there was dark flash across the ruins that groaned as the blackness whipped past the structure. The black blur that was D stopped at the face of a tall, lichen covered rock and with a scream of almost rage he slammed his left hand ruthlessly into the rock face. There was a pained squeal from the hand, which was muffled as D pounded the hand again. The whole boulder shuttered, and cracks riddled its surface.

"Shut up!" D gasped his voice now gripped with a passionate fury, "You don't know ANYTHING about me!" he slammed his opened palm deep into stone ignoring the wild shrieks of pain and the crunch of his own bones. "I didn't know! I didn't know how to love her more….don't…" another brutal slam, "remind me!"

In the next moment calm again presided over the dhampir even as he sank down to his knees in the sand, cradling his mutilated hand. Was the splatter of blood across his face the work of his rage against the symboite, or could it have been tears that were tainted the color of his curse? Never the less his face remained utterly impassive as he started down at his twisted hand.

With a sob like gasp the symboite spoke, "I am sorry! Your right I did promise not to speak of it…"

"Remember it well."

The hand twitched almost convulsively, as though trying to see something just beyond the horizon. It seemed to him that the horizon seemed to be moving closer to where the dhampir sat. "D…." Lefty groaned, garbled with agony. "…look to the west."

D lifted his icy eyes to the horizon, momentarily shocked to hear those words from the symboite, the very same his dead wife had used in his dream. Shock passed into apprehension when he saw that indeed the horizon seemed to rising from the ground level and racing toward him. It took even the dhampir a moment to realize that it was not the sky itself roaring toward the shore but rather an immense, growing wall of sapphire blue water with jagged peaks of white scattered here and there across its massive form. A second later a thunderous rushing roar tore through the air, the water level had rose already to D's knees as the oceanic monster raced closer and closer.

"Run! FUCK D RUN!" the symboite shrieked out. Indeed even in rising water the Hunter could have raced from the scene and outrun the blunt of the tsunami. But he did not turn. The sun was blotted out by the immense crest before it began to curl downward, arcing for the land. D remained utterly still, the strange words rooting his feet to the ground. "What the hell!" the pained voice cried, "Even I don't know what the hell will happen to you in that. RUN!!"

"She wanted me to see this…" he whispered to his own disbelieving self before one of the smaller waves had crashed up against the shore, robbing even the steadfast Hunter of his footing. It was not weakness, but sheer dread that paralyzed D as he fell victim to the assault of wave after wave that crashed over him. He tried desperately to grab hold of something, but already the entire coast line was changing, whole boulders floated past him like mere grains of sand. The Hunter was out of his element in water, and could just barely fight off the vampire curse to drown even in shallow pool. It took intense concentration for him to swim. Never before had he been cast into such a wild maelstrom of water…not since the night he'd lost his mother.

Indeed the very thought of the raging river that had claimed Mina the Fair seemed to freeze D's limbs completely. He could only force himself to take small convulsive gasps when the waves permitted him to, and could only watch as the monstrous tidal wave edged ever closer, then slammed directly into him, easily dwarfing the Hunter in its grasp.

First there was only the brutal force of the water slamming into him; he felt bone snapping even in his resistant body. Then there was the darkness, and the thunderous rushing growl of the water all about him. D was battered with impact after impact; his vision improved enough to see a few of the culprits. A massive reef of jagged coral, the remains of a decaying ship, rotted boats and rusty anchors, but he was powerless to twist away from any of them. Sand blasted past his skin with the force of a million tiny daggers. Try as he could to kick toward the surface, his limbs remained unwilling, his lungs where aching with need for air already. There was no surface at all. Only walls after walls of water. Still the Hunter refused to stop trying until something struck him brutally upside the head, with force that would have reduced the skull of mortal into fragments and his world once again fell black.

* * *

"Is he breathin'?"

"Yup, defiantly alive…how could anyone survive that? "

"Shit…fella didn't even lose his hat!"

"…no….no he can't be…" a harsh elderly voice said above the others.

D's eyes opened. The four that had gathered around him all withdrew almost fearfully at the sight of seeing those unworldly black orbs set within his pallid, perfect face. The woman amongst the three developed a bright blush to her cheeks, two other men adverted their eyes enviously. However the eyes of as elderly man with a grizzled face and grey beard remained fixated disbelievingly on the dhampir.

D rose easily on the damp sand, showing no ache within his body, pausing only momentarily to cough out the water and sand trapped with his lungs but then he pulled himself to his feet, and gazed almost disinterestedly at his unfamiliar surroundings. Indeed there seemed to be no damage at all to his body, not even to his left hand.

"Where I am I?" his questioned softly.

"Yeh've washed up on the beaches just outside the town of Runh." said the flustered woman. "Heavens knows how long you where tossed around in that tsunami. You ought to come over to my place, I've got a son about your age his clothes ought to fit you nicely…"

"Now dear, I thought we agreed he's to stay with Uther if he was alive." said a man, obviously the woman's wife judging by the jealousy in his face.

The grizzled old man nodded to D, regarding him strangely, rather like a friend than an outsider. D's eyes shifted to his face, vaguely he recognized the shape of his eyes…yes….he knew that name.

"What do yeh say young man, I'd be more than happy to set yeh up for the night. Let yeh rest up."

Slowly D nodded his approval.

It wasn't a long walk from the shore to the sprawling, and well off town of Runh. Even flooded and decimated as it was it was apparent that the town was far more prosperous that its dead neighbor had ever been. Most of the town had been built on a high cliff and its walls where solid enough to hold through the blunt of the tsunami. The citizens seemed to carry themselves though the decimation with more annoyance than loss. Many of them still paused to glance spellbound at D as he passed.

The old man lived just on the outskirts of town, in a small cottage that overlooked the still turbulent ocean. It had for most part been spared the blunt of damage. Once inside D removed his waterlogged cape and his hat and sat silently down beside the window, clutching his long sword in his hand.

"It's not much of place, yes, but it reminds me of home n' awful lot, doesn't it now Mayor Underhill?" the old man said with a smile on his lips.

D did not turn to face Uther, one of only 25 survivors from the massacre of Cthulhu. Indeed his face showed no sentiment as usual as he gazed out the window.

"I really thought you were dead you know…we thought you'd just had enough and broke under the heartache. I guess I should have known better than to think that something like that could destroy the Vampire Hunter D. When tales began to arise that you'd clawed your way out of your own grave…I was just beside myself with joy. The world needs a hero, Mr. Underhill. The world needs you."

There was a long, heavy moment of silence before D spoke, "I'll be here only so long as _he_ is. When _he's_ dead then I have no purpose"

The old man nodded solemnly, knowing well of whom the Hunter was speaking. 'You haven't aged a day…it's just remarkable, how unkind the years have been to my face…"

D naturally did not reply. He had been eager to leave this shore as soon as he vanished the vessel…it was far too close to what had once been home. Only ten miles from where he'd found the vessel was the town of Runh where the citizens of Cthulhu had fled. About 30 miles past it would be the ruins of the town he'd been foolish enough to call his own.

And yet he'd looked to the west as he was told…and found himself here. Perhaps some things really where meant to be. Perhaps some things were eternal.

For the next hour D sat in contemplative silence, taking Uther's offer of tea but only holding in his hands as he gazed out at the sea. The old man could not bear to look at this gorgeous specter of the past with that haunted look marring his continence. What dark pasts was he reliving…did they have to do with her? With the man that had destroyed his life? Uther felt it sacrilegious to even contemplate such a thing.

"Someone is at the door." D began softly his voice shocking the old man so that he jumped. A minute later there was a loud knock. Uther was hardly surprised to see that the sheriff was standing at his door, "Good day Uther, glad to see you've kept relatively dry. I need to speak to your guest."

"Now yeh wait just a moment here! Don't yeh be jumpin to ridiculous conclusions! D here had nothing to do with the tsunami or any other misfortune, how could he..." the old man began irately.

"No, no it was fortunate that he's been washed here. We have need of a Vampire Hunter."

"I am listening." The cool voice replied from within the house.

The sheriff was a rather slender, yet towering man but his eyes were wide and face pale as he entered the house, his hand remained compulsively on the pistol at his hip even has extended his left to shake hands with the Hunter. " I am Sheriff Smith."

The Hunter made no motion to return the gesture, 'Call me D,"

Anxiously the Sheriff removed his hand, "As I've said Mr. D we are rather fortunate that you've washed up on our shores. Times have been getting truly strange, disappearances happening left and right all over towns across Primal Coastline. Naturally it didn't take long for us to realize that you were here….the town of Runh has been talking for years about you. When the Cthulhu survivors told us that there mayor was none other than Vampire Hunter D we naturally laughed at them even when they went as far as to fashion a gravestone for your resting place. Travelers swore up and down it was your sparkling ghost they saw in the moonlight, and indeed you had not been seen for year and years. Still we didn't really believe them until one day there was a hole in the ground where you had once laid. For the past five years I'd say there hasn't been a day your name wasn't whispered…"

"Get to the point." D cut him off harshly.

Convulsively the sheriff nodded. 'Alright then, should have known. Like I said in the past two weeks there has been a rash of disappearance across the coast. Maybe 50 have gone missing in all across our town, as well as Dary and Taylor. More and more are going missing with each night, and the attacks appear quite random. Women, men, children and elderly. About ten have been recovered, but all of them have already sprouted fangs, attacked their captors and left. It seems these newborn Nobles are even stronger than usual…it's just not like a newborn Nobel to fight their way out of a highly specialized asylum and kill every last guardian. "

D nodded slowly, "Its unusual yes. Most newborn vampires are relatively weak for their kind. But it is not unheard of. "

"There is one other thing…the ten victims we've found…all of them where found at the ruins of Cthulhu."

At this there was a stir of emotion in D's eyes, a momentary shock that sank quickly away in to his usual cool gaze.

"It seems the Nobel is using the ruins as a type of base to do whatever it is they are going to their victims…or else feasting there and casting them behind. That's your job to find out, and put a stop to it. What do you say Mr. D, will you take the job?"

"Your offer?"

"Five hundred thousand dalas. " the sheriff answered timidly. "One thousand as a down payment."

"Fair enough. I'll take it." D answered and rose to his feet, Sheriff Smith thrust a bag full of coins in the direction of the dhampir, nodded his thanks and quickly fled from the scene, eager to free himself from the Hunter unworldly presence. D pulled his cape back around his shoulders, adjusted his sword firmly across his back, and placed the hat back on his head. "I am leaving now. Thank you for your hospitality Uther." He murmured without casting a look to the old man.

"Not a chance Mr. Mayor, I am going with you! You saved our miserable lives back in Cthulhu; the least I can do is return the favor and defend you as best as these old bones can!" Uther said, pride beaming on his ancient face.

"Do as you like." D answered unruffled by the old man.


	3. Interlude Part Five: Bloodlust

**Cthulhu Dawn**

_Note: Picking up with my Interludes from Illusions, which are really mostly just D flashbacks. The ones from Illusions focused mostly on D's childhood and the loss of his mother. The focuses of these are going to be how he became a Hunter. I do enjoy these; I hope to keep them up through the series. And be warned…I rate my stories M for a good reason. _

* * *

**Interlude Part Five: Bloodlust**

_"I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief until the memory of your loved ones is just poison in your veins. One day you catch yourself wishing the person you loved never existed so you'd be spared your pain." – Batman Begins_

Times were strange indeed.

All across the Frontier the beasts of night had began to wander further than ever before, their claws, hooves, wings and tentacles trampled over their allies and foes alike, and their fangs ripped each other apart without reservation. Some even bludgeoned or ripped themselves to death in the presences of no others.

In the grand high rises of the Capital the security to all upper level buildings was increased fivefold as men and women of seemingly sound mind began to hurl themselves from the heights, a strange and alien name rising from their throats along with their last screams.

In the village of Lagsi a child was born from a woman who claimed that she'd never before known the touch of a man. The child was a monstrosity, a sexless, writhing mass of grey ooze and tentacle like limbs. It screamed with a human voice, but it's only cry was a single, alien name, the same name screamed by the suicides. "_CTHULHU! CTHULHU!!" _The child was hacked to pieces by the poor mother who then died of the shock and blood loss.

The pens of poets began to unconsciously scribble that name until there inkwells ran dry.

The pages of artists where filled with his hideous features.

The mad houses where crammed full with patients that howled the terrible name even in their sleep.

In the vast forests of the central Frontier a dreadlocked wizard that spent his days eating dead flesh and sequestered in dark caves found that he'd sprouted fangs just as those of the fallen Nobility, whom he envied.

Along the flooded Primal shore, sheltered from the sun's rays by some unseen force, Lily Odette withdrew her fangs from the neck of a child and let him fall lifelessly down to the overgrown cobblestones beneath her feet. Her dark eyes swept angrily over the pitiful ruins of the dead town that had once bore the dreadful name. She slowly licked the last of the crimson life force from her lips whist studying the decayed wood and stone work.

It had not been long ago that the Nobility had flourished on this very shore…it was unthinkable to see this HUMAN village in ruin…there should have been a grand city here, perhaps even a castle…not some pathetic graveyard of human life. It mattered little the rumor reached her ears that the Sacred Ancestor had created these ruins. Their very existence was a wound to her consciousness.

Snarling she whipped about and faced the thirty other captives that were held within a indestructible steel net. "Alright, then…who else hasn't accepted death?"

Indeed none of the pitiful faced humans moved. The stench of their tears flooded Lily, and as rank as the salt was she smiled all the same. "I see we have an understanding then. Good. You've all heard it I am sure, the call of Cthulhu. Embrace it. You can fight all you wish, but we have no wish to subdue rebellion. You'll simply die by my fangs, and return only to be drawn to the Great Cthulhu's call again. It's inescapable. You best accept your deaths now and save yourselves the agony."

There were three others beside Lily, each of them with their own group of captives. They were greatly varied; one was a shadow wraith, a soul sucking demon that had no form other than dark haze. Another a gorgeous, tawny haired elf prince. The third was a twisted, hunchbacked mutant that bore armor like plating all over his body. At least one more priest was expected to arrive, and then the Awakening could begin…

There were others beside them, random creatures drawn almost against their understanding to the ruins in hopes of glimpsing the great Awakening. Most of them were vampires of Lily's making.

"Lily…" grunted a familiar growl from the direction of the now undead boy.

"No…." she gasped and leapt back from the boy, but already the child's face as changing, writhing into the cephalopod mask of _turnasuk. _

"Have you satisfied your idiotic bloodlust yet? You have work to do! I can end your very existence with a mere thought Lily Odette, HURRY UP!" the guttural voice that couldn't have possibly been anything of this world burbled past the child's lips.

As it spoke the prisoners wailed in brilliant fright and agony, while each of followers cowered to their knees, hid their face in their hands and bowed low.

"Master please…" Lily trembled, only then remembering to bow.

"You'll have enough blood to drown in soon, if you'll hurry and WAKE me as you were created to do! Do you dare fear or reject the only purpose you, and all these other pathetic sacks of flesh have on this miserable planet?"

She closed her eyes in vain attempt to escape the twisted face but it was no use, it lingered even behind her closed eye lids, she could hear that terrible voice even in the sway of the wind, in the rise and fall of the waves.

"WAKE ME UP!"

"Master…please….we are still missing one other. And…and I hear rumor than there is a man close by. A Vampire Hunter. He could destroy us all….he is not like anything else…"

"I'll can deal with the Hunter. He is as pathetic and as weak as yourself. As soon as the last one arrives get your miserable shells over here and serve your purpose."

* * *

"Things just been odd these past two weeks Mr. Mayor…really I noticed things where startin' to go funny about a year ago, but they really been pickin' up righ about February 28, and have been getting' pretty bad over the past weeks. Here it is April and they just been terrible. I've been on this shore nearly all mah life Mr. Mayor…and I always notice things just go funny righ about then." Uther spoke quickly paying little attention to D's unchanging expression. "Crops suddenly fail for no reason. Mutant fish turn up. Earthquakes. Tsunamis as you've just seen. Hell…our town burned to the ground on March 26th. The stars just ain't right at that time or somethin'."

D's face was still unaffected by the old man's words. Uther was amazed to find that a cyborg horse seemed to be waiting outside his house for the Hunter, the horse was packed with the Hunters few possessions, and even lightly armored. He figured the Hunter must have some sort of honing signal for the beast. Their first stop was at a house that Uther lead him toward. It had once been the dwelling of a young fisherman and his wife and child. But the fisherman had vanished with the others, only to be recovered and sprout baleful fangs meant for the throats of his loved ones and then again he disappeared.

"I thought you ought to see this place." Uther sighed as he pushed open the creaking door, "See if you can pick up their trail."

For a long moment D's eyes glanced at the humble surroundings about him, at the patchwork quilt upon the bed, the decorative sword above the mantle place. A fluffy white cat mewled hungrily as it rubbed up against his boots. All that remained of the wife and child where piles of dust and stakes of wood, apparently the villagers had staked the corpses.

"The scent is strong." D said pointedly, his voice showing no hint of the nostalgia stirring in his eyes.

Naturally he did not wait for the old man trailing after him; he only mounted his horse and spurred it northward, toward the ghost that he most feared.

* * *

_D's ebony eyes were thick with emotion as he peered out from the behind the bole of an oak tree, watching the milling band of travelers intensely. His gaze was drawn most to that of a young, fair haired man who was kneeling beside a mound of earth, his lips moving in the same prayer D had spoken only two week earlier, and D took some comfort in the fact that at least he was not the only soul upon this earth that mourned._

_A shiver of hunger passed through the dhampir's body as he watch the young man stand, his head hung low so that his hair swung forward and bared his sun browned neck. D's eyes smoldered red, and his teeth ached in his jaw, quickly the pulled away from the sight and closed his eyes tightly. _

_It would have been easy…far too easy for him descend upon that mourning boy like lightening and tear him to pieces, feast upon his blood and the blood of those who jumped to his defense. He could kill them faster than they could blink. Already he was tensing to spring even has he clinched his hands tightly into fists tight enough to cause blood to run down through his fingers. _

"_Owww fuck! Stop it if you please!" piped up that still unfamiliar little voice from the hand that was no longer his own. D ignored it, and did not move, did not open his eyes until the small caravan of travelers had picked up and left the scene. He waited long after their passing and then waited an hour or so longer until there scent was slightly fainter. _

_He moved away from the oak and toward the sight of their former camp site, where only bits and pieces of rubbish and a dying fire remained. The sun burst brilliantly from the cover of clouds and convulsively D withdrew from it, growling deep in his throat with pain. _

_All that was left of the grand costume he'd been wearing two weeks earlier were tatters of his shirt and trousers, it had held up terribly in the ruthlessness of the Frontier. All D had to shield himself from the suns brutal rays was a tattered cloak that he'd stolen from a beggar. His body was riddled with angry red welts that where singed down to the muscle in some places, his skin was clearly not used to such constant exposure to sunlight yet he found he never felt weary and with the onslaught of night he healed instantly. Only now was he beginning to learn the limits and capabilities of his body and found more and more often than his limits where very few. While the sun was utter agony, only rain and water seemed to have any noticeable effect on his speed and stamina. So long as he fed he could move faster, deadlier than any vampire, any creature he'd ever studied or seen. So long as he stole the life force of another._

_D proceeded to the camp, biting past the burning insistency of the sun and pawed through the rubbish the humans left behind, salvaging a dirty length of cloth, an old battered hat and half a loaf of bread. He was disbelieving of his luck as he pulled the hat down upon his head, the glare of the sunlight was cut noticeably back by its wide brim. He wound the cloth about his reddened hands, and then stared hard at the loaf of bread before picking it up._

"_I wouldn't even try that pretty boy. It's useless. For one thing, vampires don't even have much of a stomach; you have hardly anywhere to store that, and defiantly not enough digestive acid to break that down. You'll never get any nutrients out it. "piped up the strange gruff voice that still gave D a start._

"_I am a dhampir." He growled irately._

"_So what? I am telling you right now, it's a bad idea. Like it or not you're more vampire than anything else. Fight it all you like, but you've got no way to digest that thing, and no way to absorb its nutrients…and none of those nutrients are going to do you any good anyway."_

"_Mother fed me human food when I was young. I survived."_

"_Survived sure…I am betting you've blocked away the pain it caused you, and after all these years on a proper diet what little human organs you have are atrophied."_

"_Shut up." He answered shortly and bit into the bread, certain he must be able to get some sort of energy from it. Disgust twisted his face. Even this simple food tasted utterly revolting to his tongue suited only for liquids. He had to remember that he needed to use the residual back teeth in his mouth to break the food down and to swallow it. It was a strangling feeling to swallow the half solid matter, and it did it go down easily as vampires naturally didn't produce enough saliva to aid in digestion such as this. He forced himself to consume more but by the third bite, he could bear the vile taste no more. It was shortly after that when the cramps all through his abdomen began. _

_Over the next thirty minutes D ignored them as best he could and kept walking, his path aimless as usual. He did not know where he was heading, what if anything he was seeking but he was certain that his father was looking for him and he knew only that he had to put as much distance between him and Castle Dracula as possible. D traveled only by day and at night took his rest high in the treetops, near water if possible to avoid detection from any who may have followed him. Frightened and inexperienced he had no knowledge of trails, and no way to tell if he was being followed at all. _

_Quite suddenly the cramping in the pit of his stomach grew overwhelming and he fell to the ground on his knees and began to cough violently. His atrophied stomach roiled with agony as his esophagus burned with the acidic bile. It was only after a blinding few minutes of suffering that he coughed up the remains of the pathetic meal, along with a great deal of brackish blood. "Oh boy, that blood loss is going to cost you big time! I told you it was a bad idea."_

"_Shut up." D groaned. That seemed all he'd ever said the symboite entity. _

"_Like it or not you're going to need to eat something proper, or else you're going to start slowing down and out here in the Frontier that's the worst of ideas. You've had nothing at all these past two weeks…your really pushing it now." _

"_I am not biting anything ever again. My bloodlust killed my mother. I am never drinking it again."_

_The gruff voice laughed mockingly. "You know D, you're not the first born of Nobel blood whose need to kill has killed those they love, and you won't be the last. This act is getting immensely annoying. You're going to have to eat soon. That's the one thing that Dracs couldn't change about your genetics. The need for blood is as engrained in the genes of the Nobility as the need to fuck is engrained in the genes of humans. A starving vampire isn't a right pretty sight. If you thought the pain of rejecting that food was harsh than you're in for a surprise. You'll start biting yourself just to end the torment of that lust, but that brings no fulfillment. Eventually you'll lapse into a coma like state that could last forever for all you know. Any normal dhampir would have already fallen into that state already, but you're far from just any dhampir. Come on…even the blood of a rabbit or stoat would do you a world of good."_

_  
"I am not biting anything, ever." He repeated firmly. _

"_Your funeral." The symboite sighed, "Uh oh…" it began._

"_What now?"_

"_You gotta learn to listen boy! Do you hear that?" Lefty hissed in impatience._

_D strained his ears, but to his horror found that he'd merely had his attention focused elsewhere. The sound was far too close; it was the thunderous pounding of many hooves and the creaking of wagon wheels just to the right of him. He caught a rank scent on the wind; it was of unwashed human flesh._

"_RUN!" the hand pressed but D had already begun to move, knowing far too well what had caught his trail and was now pursuing him. Yet before he'd run even a hundred yards or so he saw the first dark flash of an arrow whip past him. A moment later he heard the twang of at least three bows, the sound of hooves was deafening behind him. Unwilling to risk an arrow to the heart D turned about, his hand flashed through the air and snatched each of the projectiles right from the air. Six men with dark, matted hair were riding him down on horseback, their bows drawn and each of them gasped at D's unearthly skill, but they remained undeterred and road the horses hard toward the dhampir. _

_D awaited their approach, unmoving until the horses where just upon him. His foot flashed outward. There was a scream of pain from the beasts, the startled cries of their riders as each beast fell to the ground, one or more of their metal legs kicked to useless scrap metal. _

"_Excellent!" one of the filthy humans growled as he pulled himself up from the mass of metal and horse flesh. His eyes gleamed almost lustfully at D, "It's not often we find one with a bit of fight left in them!" he unsheathed a large, jagged blade and lunged toward D. _

_Perhaps D had vowed to never kill another creature for sustenance…but he'd made no promise to not kill at all. He knew that these grimy humans were master slave traders, and he knew if he were to fall into his hands the whole of his immortality might bound to their clutches. He spun into a vicious kick that connected with the man's neck; the attack was so powerful that the man did not even have time to cry out before his head was literally ripped from his shoulders. The blood splattered upon D's face, causing his eyes to give off a piercing light._

_More and more stinking humans were approaching, now on foot. "Well what do ya know! This wasn't just some filthy leaper, this here is a dhampir! Perfect!" one of the men laughed before the bulk of them attacked. _

_D met each one with the same ruthless strength, ripping limbs right from their bodies, twisting spines in way they were never meant to move, mortally wounding them as fast as he could, yet the problem remained that these men seemed unfazed by the terror of a raging dhampir. They only kept coming. Fangs jutted past D's lips, his eyes shimmered with vicious red, blood had sprayed all across him and this blood he felt no hesitation in licking away. When he'd taken up the slave traders blades, D was positively ruthless, hacking without compassion into his attackers. Soon forty of them lay dead at his feet, the wave of humans abated slightly and he turned to run again…only to meet a tangled solidity, and fall ungracefully to the ground, trapped._

_It had been a Widows Net that proved to be D's undoing. A thin, clear net spun from the thinnest spiders' web in the world, that also happened to be the strongest. Even a flying dragon could become entangled with its unseen threads. _

_A hoot of laughter rose from the slave traders, D struggled wildly but the steely threads would not give. "Not so tough are ya now dhampir!" one of them roared, and with a soiled boot kicked him wildly again and again. D showed no outward appearance of pain as he glared most hatefully at his captors._

'_Well he's a right pretty thing!" chortled a dreadlocked captor, " Wha'da ya say, do we throw him in with the harems? Wouldn't mind gettin' a piece of this one meself!" _

"_Are yeh kiddin!" growled another man, "He just killed about forty of us while he's clearly sufferin from sun sickness. This ain't no ordinary dhampir to throw to boy lovers! We could make some money off this un'!"_

"_Yeh got that right! And take a look at this!" said another sandy haired captor and reached easily through the net and at D's neck. He tried to grasp the dirty hand and splitter it but he could not move for the sturdy silk, the captor however effortlessly grasped the pendant that hung from D's neck. D gave a vicious roar of protest as he ripped it right from him and held the shimmering sapphire up to the others. _

"_See that? That ain't something some drifter wears. This is Nobility quality right here, the highest Nobility! Take a look past those rags he's wearin! This here is a Nobel prince, but not just any…looks an awful lot like someone, don't he?'_

_There was another shout of laugher even as D tried vainly to hide his face. _

"_Well well…it ain't every day that you capture the son of Dracula!" sniggered the blonde, slipping Mina's pendant into his pocket. "There is a two million dala price on this one's neck!"_

"_So let's turn him in after we have a bit of fun!" _

"_Don't be stupid…you WANT to give back the Prince of Vampires! What the hell has Dracula ever done for us! None of us has a choice to become the useless lumps we are…it was either seek slaves for him or become them! Well my pride ain't worth any amount of money, don't yeh agree? That stinking Nobel king thinks he's lost both his favorite bride and his perfect son. Why tell him any different? Ain't it the perfect insult…sell his own son back to his kingdom in chains?"_

_The self established leader must have been rather convincing to persuade these men to forfeit two million, because each one of them murmured loudly in agreement. D was growling like a savage beast in the net, but he no longer struggled._

"_Right then, mini Dracula!" chuckled the leader, glaring down at the dhampir, "So it's settled, I think that soon it's going to be the stadiums for you." _

* * *

_Humiliation was something D had never before faced, nor was servitude. All of these were things he quickly learned to deal with in the clutches of the slave ring. The first thing the slave traders did was make him unrecognizable to any that might be able identify his lineage. Normally this would involve some sort of facial mutilation, but naturally this was useless on a dhampir so they merely shaved his head and forced him to wear thick piercings though his lips, brow and nose. He was branded daily with the mark of their slave ring, as the brand faded by night. There seemed to be some sort of strange power to the mark that rent D double with pain at the mere thought of escape. _

_D was rankled with humiliation at the loss of his once glorious beauty, after having spent years in the grandeur of the Nobility but his shame was near unbearable when the humans, both women and men, turned to him with their lust filled eyes, and forced their flesh cravings upon him. There were times he fought, and even killed his attackers, but punishment for such a crime was 500 lashings that where then rubbed with salt. Accelerated healing did not spare D pain of such torture. The only way he found to suffer through there sadistic cravings of flesh was merely to obey them, yet to show no outward emotion at all._

_Over the long weeks that the caravan roamed the Frontier D found that utter detachment was the only way he could deal with the harsh conditions. It did him no good to seethe with anger at his captors that he quickly found he was powerless to escape. He did not allow himself to feel humiliation when he was forced to menial tasks like a dog, nor to scream as the sun broiled his skin. He cast aside all emotion and merely survived although for what reason was beyond his knowledge. Perhaps he kept on merely to have that singular moment at mid-day, when he lay down to sleep in his cell. Each day he closed his eyes and saw his mother before him, recalled her kind face and soothing voice, remembered what it had been like to curl next to her as he slept. Hers had been the only hands that had ever truly comforted him. Even her memory was a poisonous torment to his flesh. His sole relief from his suffering was when he earned his substance, a watered down mix of synthetic blood and dried plasma. It was enough to satiate his burning lust to tear into the necks of his captors. _

_Three months passed before D ever saw the stadiums that the leader had mentioned, until one night he was given a rusty sword and hurled unceremoniously into a vast amphitheater that glowed in the light of immense halogen lamps, and all around him Nobles in there evening best shrieked for blood. D was unsure why he was surprised that he'd been intended to fight in gladiator games. The demand of such warriors was certainly high enough. _

_Naturally Nobles delighted in the spectacle of two warriors tearing each other to pieces. Gladiator fights were enormously popular, not only in there vicious spectacle but it was often a morbid affair where human slaves were sold to Nobles to feast upon as they watched the battle between the usually deathless contestants. Dhampirs had no use for Nobles obsessed with pure lineage, as they were usually the useless spawn of the Nobles rape of slave women, and humans naturally feared dhampirs almost as much as there Nobel overlords. Most dhampirs ended up in the slave rings, often as gladiators meant to tear each other apart until the mercy of a stake was granted to them. Sometimes vampire criminals arrived here, and when the Nobles craved an easy kill they forced humans to compete as well, but more often than not it was a sport consisting of their bastard spawn. _

_D did not think once he found himself within the battle ground, touched by the vertigo of being of the other side of the spectrum and disgusted he'd ever enjoyed such games. He did not really even see his enemy before they attacked; D merely lashed out with his pathetic sword and hacked into his nearest attacker. A wild shout rose from the stands as the blood flew, and D's enemy toppled to the ground, sliced clear in half from head to crouch. The sword trembled in his hands as he backed away from the scene, slowly taking it in. Four other dhampirs from his own slave ring were at his side, but there were six of his opponents now and they were bulky with muscle, were as D was little more than skin and bone at this point. Each of them bore thick, well crafted swords, or daggers, although one of them held a massive bullwhip._

_Yet the situation was far from hopeless…he might be half staved and ill equipped, but he was swifter than these giants, his first blow had proved that. "Stay close!" he ordered to his companions as the six attackers charged. _

_D leapt out of the way swifter than a blackbird, and appeared a second later behind his enemies. His sword flashed out, robbing two of the attackers of their legs. He seized their swords, and snatched one for himself, and tossed the other to one of his companions. None of them had even seen D move, already one had lost a limb to the giant's swords. _

_One by one D's cohorts fell beneath the heavy swords, robbed of their limbs and ability to fight any longer, and one of them staked was through the heart. An hour of intensive combat followed before D himself stood alone, facing the last three of the giants. By now each set of the warriors eyes were gleaming and fangs were gnashing. The enemy dhampirs feasted lecherously on the blood of the fallen, yet D made no such move despite how desperately his body screamed to receive it. The crowd was in absolute ecstasy at the intensity of the fight._

_One of the three hurdled toward him, D again slipped away as swift as a bat yet he was not swifter than the crack of a whip. The tallest, most armored dhampir lashed his massive bullwhip, and from the singular thong nine others split off, each one bound for a separate part of D's body. It caught him round the neck, chest, arms and legs, pulling him mercilessly to the sand. _

_A groan of disappointed welled from the crowd, as well as harsh insults. The gladiator dragged D easily toward the others who had their swords raised. D already had a plan yet there was something else distracting him…something about the whip. He could feel something throbbing just within its harsh leather…a type of soul or else strong magic that seemed to beacon to him, to yearn to be understood by him. As tempting as the offering of its strange knowledge was, D was forced to act, and he grasped the leather in his hand and yanked with all the strength that he could muster. The whip was pulled right from its handle, and in a dark blur D was standing. He coiled the leather about his right hand and wielded it with all the deadliness of a bizarre, flexible sword. In a single crack, he'd stolen away the weapons of the gladiators, and after a series of lashes that were to swift for even the immortal spectators to see one of the dhampirs lay in the sand without his head, soon after the other two were on their knees begging for mercy, lacking their hands. _

_An almost deafening roar of victory rose from the vampire crowd then, yet D did not acknowledge it as he coiled the whip about his wrist and looked almost sadly as the carnage he'd caused and slipped from unscathed. The sand looked like a red sea of crimson life force; all D's focus was put to not falling to his knees and devouring that loathsome sand, on not consuming the twitching, groaning gladiators about him like a beast. He closed his eyes and began to pant heavily; envisioning the face of his mother…already her fair face was losing its vivid image within his mind. The color of her eyes didn't seem quite right. He could not even recall the exact tone of her voice. She was gone forever. Now all D had was fading memories of her, overpowered by the copper stench of the blood about him. What good was a memory in fighting this curse?_

"_I wish I'd never known you, I'd never been raised human…I wish you'd just left me to him.." He panted against the torment, tears threatening to creep from his eyes._

* * *

It seemed that the old man had developed the habit of rambling on senselessly the way many elderly humans did. It annoyed D to the point of anger, yet he said nothing to prevent Uther's meaningless babble about his niece's children. The old man fell silent soon enough as the sun set and they saw the first of the translucent figures, followed by the sound of a thin, unearthly scream.

Quite understandably D and Uther slowed their horse as they approached the pale figure, and the countless others that began to appear before their eyes. Barely visible in the dying light were figures that writhed pitifully on tall, wooden stakes of varying heights. Pained cries just reached their ears, it was as soft as the song of the wind, but the translucent flesh of the beings was clear enough, as was the bright red blood that pooled at the ground and seemed to strain the grass, despite the fact that it had no substance.

"They're only ghosts, imprints of the past. They cannot harm you." D spoke up, spurring his horse past the images.

"I know." Uther whispered his rattling voice stricken with emotion. "All of Cthulhu is like this. Ghosts everywhere you turn."

"I know." D answered firmly, his eyes trained ever forward. It would have been indiscernible to any that had just met the Hunter, but Uther could have sworn he heard just the slightest crack to his voice, the barest hint of sorrow marring his exquisite face.

The ruins where surrounded by a thick ring of the impaled ghosts, but there images faded as the pair passed them by without acknowledgement and meandered down into the town. The hooves of their horses echoed hauntingly on the cracked, moss covered cobblestones. All about them the stone structures where still scarred vividly with the black claws of fire, and were overgrown with weeds and ivy. The stone crumbled even at the faint vibrations of their passing. Most of the wood had rotted away, although here and there a scorched, jagged piece still remained erect. The trees that had not perished in the inferno had grown massive and wild, adding an even more ghastly aura to the ghost town. Here and there phantom flames seemed to flicker, but more common where the ghosts that clawed their way out of long decayed ruins and screamed for mercy as blood blossomed on their bodies.

D stopped his horse, "The scent has grown cold."

"They're not here?" Uther pressed fearfully.

"No…they are. I am sure of it, yet they remain unseen. I am sensing a great deal of magic at work. They could be anywhere. Go home." D dismounted his horse and scrutinized nearest ruin carefully.

"I told you I ain't!" Uther protested, dismounting carefully.

"I am not going to protect you."

"Ha! Don't give me that Mr. Underhill. I know damned well that you are. I've seen it every once in a while, some people are just driven to save those in need. They cannot live with themselves if they do not save those in need. You are one of those people."

"Is that what you think?" answered D coolly.

"I know it, that's why yeh became a Hunter, isn't it?"

"I became a Hunter to kill. It's a lesson I was naive enough to forget in this town. It's a lesson Luna was tempting enough to make me ignore. I cannot save anyone. Now go. There is another scent following us." Aggravation was edging into his voice.

Uther said nothing. He saw D's eyes turn toward the west, and saw the vast structure that gleamed with an eldritch aura in the dying sunlight.

Silently D moved forward, taking in the vast sight that had not been there in the years before. Indeed before there had only been the vast expanse of sea, but now, hovering tall over the pitiful ghost city was something massive and terrifying in its displacement. It was an island that appeared to have risen right from the ocean depths, as its alien structures were damp and appeared to be oozing with a green slime. The towering structures were built at an impossible, bizarre angles that defied any mathematical formula that D was aware of, yet they stood utterly rigid as if in mock of gravity. They appeared to be built from a glossy, greenish stone that seemed to glow fainting in the dusk. A vast mountain rose from the center of the island, thousands, perhaps millions of stairs were meticulously carved into its face, and from its pinnacle towered a jet black obelisk that seemed to pierce the very sky.

Even D's heart thudded as he took in the unforeseen, impossible sight. A sweeping wave of shock seemed to wash over his face as he stared at the black obelisk, and Uther thought he heard him murmur, "Do you sense it? It's one of them. It's a vessel."

"Yup…same vibrational frequency.! Aww man you're going to have a hell of a time destroying that thing. And fuck…if they are going to wake up what's sleeping under that mountain then your royally fucking screwed." answered a voice that was unheard to the old man.

"It's called R'lhey." Uther filled in, moving slowly to Hunters side. "The island rose from the sea about a year ago after sinking about two hundred years ago."

Another, unfamiliar voice spoke up, "There sleeps the monster that this town took its name from."

D turned and regarded the four men that had suddenly appeared behind them. Each of them wore the simplest of clothing, their hair was cropped very short, and they were massively muscled for humans. Naturally D did not take surprise in their arrival. Surprisingly neither did Uther. The first voice kept on speaking, "The monster is called the Cthulhu, and it's the most potent, destructive threat our earth has ever faced. He awakens every so often when "the stars are right". This time opens the perfect gateway for his awakening, one that will grant him an instant rise to power if his servants are not stopped."

Another one of the stranger's spoke up, "What do you think Uther, will the Vampire Hunter help our cause?"

"Of course he will," the old man grinned, "He's a hero after all."


	4. Chapter 4: Apparition and Light

**Cthulhu Dawn**

**Chapter Four: Apparition and Light**

_Note: I certainly hope I have my Lovecraft mythos right. I have researched it again and again, however some of it is from the version of the Necronomicon I've read and there are several versions out there, other things I've taken my own small liberties with._

* * *

_"My mind is far from easy. In these once familiar streets I feel shadows everywhere." – No Place Like London, Sweeney Todd._

"I have only one purpose here." D said coolly to the strangers, "but it would be in yourbest interest to tell me what _your_ purpose here is."

The tallest, most heavily muscled of the strangers bowed his head slightly as if in submission to the Hunter, "We did not expect that you would agree to our proposition easily, but no matter. It seems we have enough time to persuade you. We are called the Sons of Sirius; we are an order of magi whose sole purpose upon this earth is to spread the light of our mother star, and in doing so destroy the Old Ones."

A mocking smile passed D's lips.

"Come now Mr. Mayor, yeh have to know abou' the Old Ones, what with all the travelin' you do." Uther spoke up moving calmly to the side of the monks.

"I have little patience in dealing with myths that were laughed at even before I was born."

"How can yeh look at that horrible city and say it's nothin' but a myth! Cthulhu lives, it's undeniable!" Uther cried passionately while the monks remained quite silent, perhaps they sensed that this was the better way to gain the attentions of the gelid Hunter.

"I didn't say Cthulhu was a myth. It's quite clear to me that something is slumbering beneath that city. I said I have no patience in dealing with it. I have business with these ruins and business within that city, but I care nothing for Cthulhu." D answered impatiently.

"Oh ye'll regret those words yeh will!" the old man almost raged.

D only nodded at the monks, "I am assuming that you have some connection with them, Uther."

"That's righ'! Most of my life Mr. Mayor. When I was 15 I joined them, but I didn't really fit their bill. Bit to outspoken and passionate for their ways." Indeed the former barkeep clashed brightly with the calm façade the Sons of Sirius had so far kept. "So they sent me to this shore, to watch the signs closely should Cthulhu stir from his slumber. And they told me teh keep an eye out for anyone who might have the power to destroy him! I've done mah job well I'd say, if any man in this earth has the power to destroy Cthulhu than it's you!"

"I deal solely with the Nobility."

"You will not hear us out?" raised the ever calm voice of the tallest of the monks. "It's quite obvious that the beast is attracted the Nobility into its clutches. The Sons of Sirius would be honored to have the Vampire Hunter D fighting by our side, and you would be very well rewarded for it."

D had turned away from the scene, took his horses reins and began to disappear into the dark clutches of the ruins. "No."

"Mr. D!" the old man cried and thought for a moment to run after him, but he leapt back when he reached within ten feet of D, repulsed and actually afraid. It seemed a ghastly, black aura was radiating from the dhampir who quickly melded away into the night.

* * *

Over the next hour D wandered about though the ruined city, for the most part his path was quite aimless yet he transversed the once familiar streets with ease, yet his eyes remained cast low to the ground, shielding him from the sight of the moonlit stone carcass, and from the hollow specters that softly pleaded for his attention.

"There is no sign what so ever of the trail." He said after a long silence.

"Oh…that's what we were looking for? This wasn't a trip down memory lane?" the symboite responded its harsh voice showing the nostalgia that D's showed no visible trace of.

"You haven't been paying attention." D nettled.

"Well you just said that there wasn't shit to pay attention to. All trace of the Nobility is completely erased or else hidden. There is some serious magic afoot, things are just too fishy. I am certain that squid boy is behind it."

Naturally the Hunter said nothing and only then did he raise his eyes and allowed himself to full take in the sight of his surroundings. By now the ghosts had formed a dimly glowing ring about him, their dead eyes stared fixatedly at him as though somehow certain that this man had some connection to their pasts and that he were somehow connected to their deaths as well. He was standing in the middle of what had once been the town square, although there was nothing but rotten planks and scorched stone to mark what had once been. D eyes caught sight of a small hillock just beyond the crowd of ruins, where a tall, twisted willow tree swayed in the wind. Turning his eyes downward again, D moved across the cobblestone and out the circle of spirits. A dim chill crossed his skin as he passed them by, and they faded from sight.

He was assaulted with a strange sense of vertigo as he moved to the hillock, as though he were walking into the remains of dream that had been dreamt many many years ago. He treaded the path and climbed the hillside with the ease of a man who had traced this path many times in a long distant past. There had been no true significance of this hillock with its solitary willow tree until the day that the minuscule town of Cthulhu had died.

The last memory he could recall about the dead town was of climbing this hillside, choosing it merely for its seclusion from the rest of the town and dying himself…or rather falling comatose. He could not recall if he had induced the state himself, or if he had simply submitted to it. Beyond the scarlet agony of mourning over his dead wife, everything else was a painful haze to D's memory. He suspected the sudden and raw agony of losing the Heart Bind that had bound him and the Nymph together through mind and soul had caused this selective amnesia. Beyond the darkness of death, and of hazy disjointed dreams of Luna, D's next clear memory had been awakening with in his grave. Still…he was certain that he had some deeper connection to his hillside than just a mortal death.

Even the gelid Hunters eyes were not immune to the gripping shock of seeing the sparkling image that stepped from the wild sway of the willow fronds. The Nymph's mortal imprint upon the earth seemed brighter than that of the other ghosts, her face clear and the details of her form more vivid, she seemed to glitter vaguely in the moonlight. Upon glimpsing her once so familiar face D's heart was gripped by a foreign, aching claw of desperation and quite unaware of his actions he rushed forward and touched the image with his hands. In turn the pale image reached out to touch him but his flesh felt nothing as her glowing fingers touched his arms, and he felt no solidity as he touched hers.

Luna's ghost showed no noticeable reaction, no noticeable familiarity of the dhampir standing before her. Why should she? She was nothing more than an illusion acting out the movements she'd made in life; she had no true cognation of what those movements meant, nor of the significance of the flesh she'd just touched.

Slowly D moved to touch the glow of her hair, bitter disappointment surging through his chest as his fingers again met nothing. But the ghost smiled faintly, appreciative of the small token of affection

"You…" the ghost breathed, her voice was far unlike the one he'd once loved so deeply, the voice he'd given up everything for. Now it was nothing more than a gasping whisper just barley audible against the rattle of the willows leaves. "You see me and acknowledge me." She moved in close to D's form and pressed her weightless image to D, placing her hands on his chest, her face to his neck. She seemed envious of the warmth and the pulse that surged thought him.

D did not move, rather he stood there statue still yet his face was contorted to match the sorrow pounding his heart. "If only I could embrace you. I would never let you go." His whisper was hardly more audible the soft sigh of the wind.

"I know you…"

D said nothing.

This empty embrace could have lasted for hours, but it lasted only a mere second or two before D turned and moved swiftly away from the scene. The ghost had a mind to trail after the beautiful stranger that had not showed fear at her presence, but only a few paces into her pursuit oblivion flooded her features, and she turned away forgetting the young man completely.

"Come on now D…it's okay to turn on the waterworks once in a while." issued a voice from around D's waist. 'After seeing something like that it's only natural, come on now…let's see that emotion." Lefty pressed unbearably as D moved down the hillside and again followed the winding, overgrown cobblestone path.

"Shut up."

"Ah yes…those are the only two words your capable of saying aren't you?"

"No." D growled.

"Oh wow! Three words, moving on up in the ol' vocabulary! Way to go there D!" the symboite attempted to laugh, yet it to appeared to have been affected by the bittersweet apparition.

Again in silence D traveled the once recognizable road, this time taking one of the forks that lead toward an overgrown forest. The trail ended at a deserted clearing, where no ruins at all remained. The charred timber that would have been all the remained of the place D had been foolish enough to call his home had long since crumbled to ash. Already time had swept away all remains of its existence.

"So…this was a trip down memory lane then!" said the disembodied voice, but to no avail. With purpose D moved toward the empty clearing, until he seemed to settle upon a particular patch of grass, then he turned toward his horse and retrieved a singular bulky object from its back.

"Seems there is nothing left to do but to wait for the Nobility to show themselves." D murmured more to himself than to any other entity and he lay down flat in the grass, pulling his hat low over his eyes. Rather than pulling his cape across his form for warmth, he used the bundle he'd retrieved from the horse. It was a very ragged, white patchwork quilt. That and the emerald ring he bore on his left hand was the sole connection to his dead wife's memory, they where all that remained of her in this world…save for this ghost town. Indeed the Hunter had formed a close attachment to the objects, often getting restless when he did not have the decaying quilt as he slept, and never once removing the wedding band from his finger.

Perhaps it was merely a strange, wild cry drifting from the woods but had any been around to hear it they might have sworn they heard a strange, pained sob come from the direction of the Hunter, but soon all was silent and only the slow rise and fall of the Hunters chest was the only life within the haunted town.

* * *

_D had expected that he would dream of her the way he did almost every night. There had been many a night that he retreated to the bliss of unconsciousness merely in hopes of seeing her face. It was rare that the images were ever clear, the memories were never as lucid as they had once seemed, they were fading like a painting left exposed to the elements. The imagines now began no differently…a vague impression of Luna's arms locked loosely about him perhaps as they slept, or perhaps even as they made love yet there was no way to tell. There was no distinction between the two. This disjointed warmth, the faint image of her face as all that D had to cling. He knew even in his unconsciousness to accept it, to savor it for all it's worth. When he felt her kiss soft upon his lips shock ran throughout his body._

_It seemed that with that kiss the imagery about him had come into clear focus, they were indeed in their old marriage bed, and Luna was half naked, wearing only a silken night gown that D delighted at the feel of against his flesh. Her kiss was gentle, playful as though she where enticing him, and insistently he deepened it, tangling his tongue against hers, sliding his hands though her hair. His sudden passion took her by surprise but she responded quite eagerly to him._

_He parted from her and took in the solidity of her face; it was just as it had been in the flesh. No memory, no dream could ever been this real. Something wasn't right. _

"_Are you alright D?" _

_He nodded, unable to find any appropriate words._

"_Good." She answered, and moved down to kiss him. For only an instant he saw it, her eyes were gleaming a brilliant, piercing red. In the next moment she'd gripped his hair and forced his head cruelly back, sank down into his neck. A shocked cry escaped D's lips as he felt razor sharp fangs plunging down into his own throat. Panic seized his form as the Nymph pinned him brutally down, her jaws tearing savagely at his flesh, but soon enough strength surged into the dhampirs form and he threw the Nymph right off his body, sending her flying clear across the room. _

_D sat up, panting and clutching his heavily bleeding neck. Luna surged to her feet, but her face had changed and twisted into a monstrous continence. Three ruby red eyes glared from each side of the beast's bulbous head, and tentacles writhed where its fanged mouth should have been. _

"_So weak, so pathetic Hunter…" the monster growled mockingly, and seemed to almost laugh. _

_D said nothing, yet in pure outrage he surged toward the beast his unarmed fists raised._

D awoke before ever reaching the beast, the moon and the stars gleaming above him seemed to be wobbling, an assaulting weakness deluged his form. With a soft groan he sat up, the stink of blood had filled the night, his neck was throbbing. He pressed his right hand the spot, only vaguely surprised to find that the ruthless wound he's suffered in the dream was physically there. Already the blood he'd lost was weakening him.

"See, I told you not to underestimate our new friend." raised the slightly mocking voice of his left hand.

* * *

In only a moment or two D had returned to the section of ruins in which he'd left his uninvited companions, still clutching his bleeding neck as his eyes sought out the strangers. He found only the supposed leader of the monks standing calmly in the street, staring emotionlessly at the towering alien city before them. He smiled softly as D approached him, apparently aware of his humiliation at Cthulhu's claws.

"Alright, tell me what you know and how I am supposed to stop it." D began softly, meeting the monks pale eyes. Strangely enough the monk shifted from D's gaze as though quite uncomfortable, yet this was not an unusual reaction for D, merely odd coming from a man of wisdom.

"They came from the stars after being exiled from the heavens…the Old Ones. They flew here on their great wings when the Earth was nothing more than rock, sulphur and fire. They were not the first to migrate to the Earth, they followed the Elder Ones. It was the Elder Ones that created much of the life on this Earth. Yet with the arrival of the Old Ones much of that life was doomed to end. It was their wicked ways that exiled them from the heavens, and naturally they brought those ways with them to our world. The Old Ones are cruel, murderous beings that are interested only in domination, and with their arrival came Cthulhu, the most blood thirsty of their kind. There followed a great a war that bleed across all of the Earth. Cthulhu was their sadistic leader, and with his warriors and his many children he drove the Elder Ones down into the seas and made the Earth his empire.

But his empire was not forever. By blind luck the stars still hold their sway over the Old Ones. On our Earth it is very easy for the stars to align in such a manner that their rays become noxious to their flesh, and they cannot survive. The Old Ones are not made of flesh and blood as we are, and cannot suffer physical harm; rather they assume flesh like forms they are comfortable with. However the rays of the stars render them too weak and unable to assume a physical form, and to wonder useless and tormented. The Old Ones could only flee or else submit to their torment. Naturally the war lord Cthulhu was not going to submit to such a fate easily, so he devised a plan to crawl beneath the heart of his empire and hide from the poison from the stars. He fell into a deep, unnatural sleep in which no life remained within his body, but his mind remained conscious, planning and dreaming. He is _ftaghan _to use their word. In time the Elder Ones rose again and banished his sleeping corpse to the watery depths.

But the stars cannot always remain so perfectly aligned to ward against the Old Ones. It is unavoidable that they shift, and the poison veil lifts from this world. It is then that Cthulhu awakens. The Sons of Sirius have been waiting, and watching for him patiently for many millennia, trying to fight when he does awaken. He has rose from his deathly sleep at least five times by our count, but luck was on our side and he was eventually driven back to R'lyeh as the stars shifted, and his terrible city sank back beneath the waves. But if our predictions are right than this time it might be years before the stellar alignment rights itself again. Enough time for the beast to crush all of life in his claws."

"All things I've heard before." D commented dully. "What I am interested in is what attraction this city has for the Nobility, and the sway this beast holds in dreams."

The monks eyes strayed to the hand D had pressed to his throat, "Attacked by your own memories?" The man's eyes gleamed dully, as though with faint humor but D chose not to acknowledge it. "Naturally as Cthulhu sleeps for eternity he holds ultimate power over the land of dreams, most strongly over memory. He despises every event that has occurred from the time the stars became poisonous, and he delights in slipping into the memories of his targets, corrupting them and attacking them. The force of his will is so great that even in dreams physical damage is done, as you can see by your throat, dhampir," his last word was quite mocking. "But Cthulhu is able to temporally manifest any way he pleases. This is also how he communicates to his followers. Through dreams and apparitions, he haunts them all their life, threatening them to free him, tormenting them to madness if they resist. They are so fear driven that they will lay down their lives gladly in turn for their leader, their _turnasuk_. It's more than likely that Cthulhu has gone from taking weak fleshed humans as his slaves, to taking immortals such as the Nobility."

"How do I defeat him?"

There was a strange sort of giggle from the monk; it seemed with every moment he was losing his once stony façade. " _You _cannot defeat him. How can you defeat a creature whose flesh cannot be harmed by any force of this world? No matter what weapon that strikes him, he shall instantly regenerate."

"Than this is folly. " D answered frigidly and turned away.

"No, wait! I've spoken to hastily…perhaps Cthulhu cannot be killed but he does have a weakness. He can be driven back. This is where the Sons of Sirius beg your aid. Not only are the light of certain stars poison to him, but he can only be awakened by his followers. The Elder Ones sealed the door of his tomb shut with a seal so potent that even he is powerless against it, they thought this would be enough to hold back the beast forever, but they did not foresee that the human and later immortal mind might fall victim to his influence. Our best shot is to stop his followers before they arrive at R'lyeh. But, if that fails than there is one other option."

At this moment the monk reached inside of his habit and pulled free something large and glittering from its depths. The jewel, as large as an egg and elegantly faceted was so gorgeous, so flawless that even D's eyes were drawn lustfully to its surface. Its color was not evident in the moonlight, but D could see it was pale and shimmering almost like starlight, faintly glowing with a light of its own.

"This is the greatest achievement of the Suns of Sirius, the Sothis Stone. The light and influence of the stars is poisonous to the beast, most potentially the light of our patron star, Sirius. The very nature of our star pulsates with freedom and courage…things that Cthulhu is defenseless against. For many many millennia we've worked in secret to create a jewel to mimic the poisonous power of the stars, testing it on one of the many spawn of the beast that we had captured. At last, fifty years ago we succeeded, destroying the beast beyond regeneration. We hope that we can do the same to Cthulhu, we've simply no way of knowing if a mere jewel that acts like a mirror can have any true effect on the beast."

"I fail to see where you need me." D said pointedly, still never taking his eyes from the jewel.

"If Cthulhu arises before we can stop his followers, than you fight. We need every warrior that we can get. Those here tonight are the only ones brave enough to stand against this evil…myself, my brothers, the old man and yourself. The greatest Hunter to have ever lived."

"I deal solely with the Nobility."

"No…no Vampire Hunter D we know that isn't entirely true. We know much about you see, we know that you've hired yourself out to free a young woman's soul from a world she dreamed herself. We know you once hired yourself to a young victim of the Nobility with your only compensation being to have your way with her."

"I never did." D almost snarled in defense.

The monk calmly continued, "We know that you once even hired yourself out to _defend_ a band of Nobles. And that 40 years ago you took a wife and tried to settle down in this very village."

"I fail to see your point." He bit hostilely.

"The point is that you do break your own rules. You do make exceptions. If you aid us in defeating the beast, than your payment shall be the Sothis Stone. It's likely that it has only a single shot at the beast, after that it is useless to us. Whether or not it succeeds in its purpose it's yours if only you shall help us."

It seemed D needed only the barest moment to consider before he nodded, "Agreed. But if the Nobles I am tracking intend to wake him than we are leaving for the island within the hour. Wake all the others. I am quite certain that you agree that you'd rather deal with followers rather than the beast itself. Best to get there before they can."

The monk nodded, and slipped the stone back into his habit.

As promised within the hour the six had boarded a barge the Sons of Sirius had anchored in the rotted old remains of a harbor, and were slicing swiftly through the moonlit waters. D was leaning almost feebly against the bow of the tiny boat; his left hand was still pressed to his throat. The blood that stained his clothing was not visible against the black cloth but the pool that was gathering below his boots was vivid enough.

"Why isn't it stopping?" D murmured a distinct waiver of weakness to his voice.

"No idea…It outta be, there is no poison or anticoagulants that I can detect." came the muffled voice of his left hand against the wound. "The elements aren't even working on this bad boy."

For a fleeting second there was a faint smile playing at D's lips, "And to think I made poor Luna suffer though my bites every time we where together. Guess this is my payback."

Had the ancient little face been visible there would have been shock in its feature, to Lefty's recollection that sentence had been the first time he'd spoken of her that wasn't in a regretful manner. He'd spoke of her almost fondly.

However the reason of the unlikely sentence was clear as in the next moment D's body slumped unconsciously against the bow of the boat.

* * *

_For those of you following this saga I invite you to check out my profile, there I've posted little teaser plans for the future of it! :) BTW...yes I am activly seeking a Beta, I edit these bad boys three times and STILL miss alot. Any who are intrested, give me a message! :)_


	5. Chapter 5: The Elder Seal

**Cthulhu Dawn**

**Chapter Five: The Elder Seal**

_Note: Some of you may recall that this story is not my original character Lily Odette's first appearance in my fiction. She was briefly in **Illusions** in Chapter Thirteen…for some reason her character sparked my imagination so I thought I should bring her back for more. To save space I shall not make a huge re-introduction of her, I'll just mention now that she was an arranged bride for D when he was 19 and living as vampire. _

* * *

"_A broken seal on an ancient curse unleashes beasts from the seismic breach." – Cthulhu Dawn, Cradle of Filth_

_"…your going to be the death of me!" Luna giggled playfully and attempted to wrestle out of his embrace._

_D did not fight back and his face became utterly grave. "Don't say such things." He pushed back his tangled hair and rose from the grass in which he and Luna had been laying. He stood and moved towards Luna's unworldly horse, the Nymphs eyes drinking in his naked form avidly as he retrieved her quilt and then returned to her side. "It's going to freeze tonight. I can smell it on the wind." Silently she pulled the quilt round her own naked body, while D donned his coat and slung his blade onto his back, before lying down on his side. Luna coiled her body against his, and D curled his left arm beneath her and pulled her closer to the warmth of his body, but his right arm, his sword arm, lay lightly against her shoulder, still free should he have need of it._

_"You're the only warmth that I really need D, you are everything that I need." She mused softly, running her fingertips across his cheek. "I mean that. Don't you ever leave me Dracula Murray. I'll wither and die without you." She closed her eyes and fell silent._

_…**no….no you're not going to corrupt this moment!** A sudden voice had raged through D's calm thoughts, but that voice within his thoughts had been his own. It was as if he were speaking within his own head from different time than this one._

_He was momentarily taken aback by the strangeness of the situation. It seemed in direct violation to the tenderness of the moment. He looked down at Luna._

_**Don't look! Don't look! **His own voice commanded yet his eyes had already fallen upon her still form curled so devotedly into him. Her eyes had opened, they were crimson._

_**NO! Wake up! I WILL wake up now! **He had the vague feeling that he was drowning, fighting for the surface of consciousness like a man that was caught beneath ice, pounding away at the surface that would not break._

_"It's useless Hunter." Luna spoke. D was hardly surprised when the voice that issued from her was deep and guttural. D was ready however, and he heaved the Nymph from him, his sword shrieked as it was pulled from it' sheath and D stood half naked yet utterly fearless before the beast. Luna's form grew translucent than faded, another colossal form replaced it. Its claws punctured deep holes in the earth; a dragon like body supported the beasts squid like head, immense bat wings unfurled across the sky. D met Cthulhu's multiple eyes resolutely, and the beast spoke but its mouth was quite unseen._

_"Impressive…you've learned quicker than others how easy it is for me to manipulate memory. Never the less it is useless. You cannot wake from this sleep. Soon you shall be as you were years before, as I am now. Ftaghan. Trapped within the world of dreams and memory, powerless."_

_"Then I can defeat you it seems." D spoke softly, "Otherwise you would have just killed me. I think I can understand how you work, you delight in crushing your feeble prey, but your true enemies you wish to face properly."_

_A hacking sound almost like laughter issued from the beast. "No, Hunter. I have silenced you because you are intriguing. There is no flesh creature upon this earth that compares to your physical beauty. You possess features so striking that you amaze even these immortal eyes that have witnessed every galaxy, every nebula, every birth and death within the universe. I am eager to know how a creature with mortal blood comes to possess such features. With beauty comes power, and with power control. When I have learned your secrets then I shall destroy you. I'll awaken you when the earth is laid bare for me and my children, until then count yourself blessed Hunter. I have given you the freedom to see those you most love, rather that casting you into Hell."_

_D kicked up off the ground and his sword flashed. A black line of blood welled across Cthulhu's writhing face, but before even a drop of blood could seep downward the wound faded away completely. In the next moment the beast was gone entirely._

_"Are you there? Answer me." D said lifting the palm of his left hand, but there was no trace of the symboite. He silently cursed the fact it was rare that the symboite followed him into his dreams. He clinched his empty palm and took in his surroundings. It was quite evident that he was trapped within his own, unconscious world as it had no true life of its own. There was no whisper of the wind, no rattling of the leaves and the clouds hung quite motionless in the sky. Memory only went so far._

_Naturally D was not a man willing to submit to such a situation, and he pulled on the rest of his clothes and mounted his horse. It was different from the horse that should have been featured in his memory…that one had been black, this cyborg horse was a dull grey color, the color of his current mount. It was clear to him he had the power to conjure anything he willed within this place, save for the symboite who might have broke him free. D began to roam the vast prairies and dense wood that encircled him, his eyes casting tirelessly about for some sort of flaw in his prison. If he was trapped within a sealed dimension than there was without a doubt a thin spot he could tear though, yet without the symboite it would prove to be an immense challenge. Yet if Cthulhu's threat was true and he was indeed hibernating, ftahgn as he'd called it, than it would take an extraordinary outside force to wake him. Decades might pass before he woke naturally._

_D was not surprised when he found her standing within a soft woodland stream, her head was hung low, her black tresses were covering her face from his view and her white dress was spread about her like the wings of a swan. She watched the water rolling past her fingers sadly. When she sensed D's approach she raised her face, her eyes where as clear and sparkling as the water in which she was standing, yet her face was still veiled by her hair. The same gripping sensation from when he'd seen Luna's ghost hit D's chest, but his movements were quite unhindered as he dismounted and faced her. He'd grown quite used to finding his mother within his dreams…they were all that was left of her after all. Save for the pendant round his neck, and his seemingly eternal quest for her vengeance, she had no mortal mark left upon the earth._

_"Can you help me Mother?" D's voice was little more than whisper, "I am trapped here."_

_She nodded and raised her hand, beckoning to him. D moved forward and took it, she pulled him close, down into the flowing stream but D did not vacillate as he slipped into the water, and embraced her. It was brief, she of course had little solid form, flesh or warmth, she was merely a memory that was given life within a dream. When he pulled back Mina took both his hands in hers, he felt something metallic and coin shaped fall into the palm of his left hand._

_"Your father asked me to give you this…" her voice was fading away along with the rest of the world. He was breaking through the surface._

* * *

D opened his eyes and found himself staring up at a dull, unfamiliar ceiling, the whole room was swaying steadily, it took even him a moment before he recalled that he was on a barge on the way to R'lyeh. Sunlight was beaming thorough a miniscule chink in the metal work.

"Oh thank the gods! Ye've beaten it!" Uther cried from where he was seated across the room, he rose and moved toward the dhampir's side. "Blimey….hate to say it seems almost like blasphemy… but you don't look so good right now."

D pulled himself up, an assaulting wave of weariness broke over him as he did so but he managed to smile almost humorously at old man. Naturally the Hunter made no inquiry as to his appearance, but he indeed look far unlike the creature of shimmering moonlit beauty he should have been. He was drenched in dried and fresh blood that had matted his hair and painted the sheets crimson; he was as pale as the ghosts that haunted his dreams and dark blue veins stood out against the white canvas. There were deep shadows beneath his eyes and his cheeks were hollowed. He looked like there was no blood left within his body. "What happened?" He rasped dryly.

"Well Master Dalv said that you'd been attacked by Cthulhu in your sleep, and the wound didn't heal. Yeh passed out on the deck last night, wouldn't stop bleedin' and you were so cold….yeh looked just like you did back in our old village when I found yeh dead…or so I thought. Stopped breathin' and went all stiff as well. The sons of Sirius said that Cthulhu musta tried to put you in same state as him; he must think yeh a threat. Looks like he drained yeh dry…wouldn't put it past the beast to have that power. That's when they gave yeh that." Uther gestured toward D's left hand that was clinched in a loose fist.

D opened the hand and found that he'd been clutching a small bronze coin with a strange symbol carved upon it. It was a diagonally tilted collection of straight lines, triangles circles and boxes that looked like a symbol more fitting for wheat crop circles. "That's the Elder Seal tha is. A sigil so powerful that none of the Old Ones can stand it. Even dreams are protected. The theory is that its angles and shapes mimic the power of the stars, it helped the sons of Sirius countless time in creating the Sothis Stone. Once they gave yeh this you started to stir, looks like you've stopped bleedin' to. Must have found the sigil in your dreams."

He frowned as he looked upon it, your father told me to give you this…Mina's words must have been meaningless because it was obvious the sigil had helped him.

"Why aren't we in R'lyeh?" D inquired.

"Well…yeh see we hit a snag right after you fainted. It seems we are movin' but R'lehy isn't getting' closer."

Pushing aside his assaulting fatigue D rose from the bloodied bed and strode out the swaying room. He was clearly affected, as he had to grip the door frame, and even lean against the old man once or twice as he made his way above deck. Indeed once he surfaced the grotesque city with its enormous obelisk seemed no closer than it had been the night before.

The sons of Sirius were scattered about, despair on their faces yet the tallest one, Master Dalv as Uther had called him cast his pale eyes toward D. It seemed a mocking smile was pulling at his lips; he seemed almost amused to see the dhampir in such a desperate state.

"If you ask me it sure looks like monk boy has it in for you…his eyes aren't right." Lefty's hoarse voice met D's ears but the Hunter paid it little attention as he trained his eyes hard on island looming before them.

Focusing his scenes he could feel it clearly…his wound before must have masked it from him earlier. There was a subtle, but definitive resistance that charged the very air. It was as if the ship were sailing through ice rather than water, but refused to believe it was trapped. "It's a Nobility warding device." D muttered dismissively as the pendant on his chest suddenly threw off a piercing, sapphire light. In an instant the resistance was gone, and the ship edged forward in the water. Already the terrible obelisk seemed to growing in size.

"We should be there within an hour. But we are too late to stop the Nobles. They'll have taken advantage of our predicament." D muttered lowly, then turned back into ship.

For the next hour R'lyeh loomed closer and closer as D remained below the deck, washing the blood from his body whilst seizing the sea rats that scuttled past him and draining their pitiful bodies to husks. It was little use; D's starved appearance changed diminutively as he cast the bodies aside. He moaned an almost inaudible sigh of pain; the whole of his body was twisting and writhing with exquisite, vivid hunger. The blood of rodents would not slake it. In a fit of desperation he consumed six doses of dried blood capsules yet they served only to give him a short lived burst of energy.

"That's fuel pretty boy." His left hand nettled, "That's like giving food to a victim who is about to die of blood loss…it's not going to do shit for them. I tell yea….that squid boy knows his stuff. Your fucking screwed if you're going to face him in this condition."

"I still do not intend to let him awaken, but never the less my condition cannot be helped." D answered vaguely, placing his hat back on his head and gripping the sheath of his sword as he moved above deck once again.

By now the menacing, unworldly structure of R'lyeh was looming like a chain of saw toothed mountains before the barge, casting them in a deep, forbidding shadow. Each of the six stood rooted to the deck as they drifted closer and closer to the barren island that seemed to be giving off a faint and slimy glow from its stone. D's eyes remained fixated upon the spear of the black obelisk. Not only was it pulsating with the terrible aura of the slumbering god, but it seemed to shimmer before D eyes with the poisonous life force, and soul of Dracula. While he remained quite ignorant of how to destroy such a massive object, his eyes showed no hint of despair.

D was first to leave the barges' deck, leaping from the bow and landing gracefully upon the islands jagged shore well before the others began to make preparations. By the time they reached the shore D was already trotting up the vast sprawl of stairs that were cut into the mountainous face of the island, his expression was as set as the stone in which he trod, his coat fluttering out behind him. The sun climbed higher and higher into the sky as the band trudged ever slowly upward. It was nearing midday when D near collapsed onto the rough cut stone, panting hard, his head was bowed low against the glare of the sun, thick fangs were protruding past his lips.

"Yeah…I smell it to…" Lefty said a tinge of fear to its jagged voice, "Blood. And LOTS of it nearby."

"At the base of the obelisk." D answered. "Do you hear them as well?"

"Yeah..sure do." A haunting chant was rising from the base of the obelisk, one that sent a chill down even the Hunter's spine. It was a guttural chant, interlaced with a voice like banshee shriek as well as terrified screams of agony before they were cut short but the chocking of blood. " …they really mean it…any minute now he's going to awaken. You're feeling the way the earth is trembling beneath your feet right…fuck in about half an hour, if not sooner we are going to be royally screwed."

"Scared?" D asked mechanically.

"Shit yes! You don't have a clue what you're up against, do you? Ah hell, I don't know why I even try. The only thing that scares you is losing that ridiculous hat."

It appeared that D was not even listening, his eyes were glittering a violent red, he panted hard although there was no true fatigue in his body as of yet. The source of his torment was quite obvious. "That blood…" he rasped airily.

"Oh here we go…." The symboite sighed impatiently, D pulled back the thick black sleeve of his coat, exposing his pallid right wrist and greedily, he sank his fangs into the artery. His lifeblood welled and spilled over his tongue. For a minute or two he sucked hard at the wound, eyes closed in apparent pleasure, color rising slightly in his face until a wave of dizziness swept over him and he pulled the wound away, covering it lightly with his left hand. "Well that gets rid of the bloodlust for a bit, but that didn't do shit for you…might as well be drinking from an empty cup."

D said nothing as he pulled his sleeve back down over the flesh that was once against unblemished. At last he heard the footsteps of his unwanted companions approaching. Master Dalv was taking the lead; fatigue had not gripped his features yet although it had began show in the limping steps of the others. Indeed there seemed to be a sardonic smile upon his weather beaten face he approached D, apparently he'd witnessed D's desperate act of bloodlust.

"Can't deny your nature can you dhampir?" he whispered in his low tone. Naturally it got no rise from the Hunter.

D rose easily to his feet and cast his gaze to his complains, Uther looked utterly ragged and unsteady on his feet. D moved and this time offered the old man the support of his shoulder.

'Gotta say I always thought if the dreaded day came tha' more would have stood against the beast…" The old man laughed bitterly. "I imagined an army storming these fabled stairs…like the one tha' stood up against him before our town was born. Never dreamed I'd live to see the day it happened and that I'd be virtually alone in stoppin' it."

"Humanity is a fragile race. It's possible that deep within their soul every man, woman and child knows of the beast that lays asleep, and they simply refuse to acknowledge its awakening."

Uther bowed his weary head; despair wrinkling his face further "Just might have a point there, Mr. Mayor. We're just like frightened little lemmings marching on to our destruction again and again…"

"There is still much hope for humanity." D's voice rose with the faintest air of zeal, "Humans might be a far from fearless species, but they fight fiercely. They did not escape from the clutches of Nobel enslavement by submission. At some point humans break free of their fear and they amass against it. Humans are to dwell on this Earth until it cannot support them any longer."

"Y….yeh really think that Mr. D? After all the terrible things you've seen humanity do to each other? After all the years you've put up with persecution?" He cast a wary eye over to Master Dalv.

"Yes." He answered, but spoke no more.

"I can't rightly say what's got into the Master…he's usually so calm, so level headed…I supposed all those years cloistered in that monastery has got to him. Could be he's never really seen a dhampir."

There was no response.

Their pace quickened with dread excitement as they approached the base of the obelisk, about a hundred or so stairs from the base of the mountainous temple D strayed from the staircase, and scaled the crags of the mountain lizard-like with the old man upon his back, at last taking cover beneath the shadows of a massive, whimsically shaped stone identical to the many that dotted the windswept plane. The clearing was flat and stretched for miles across. A cluster of about fifty figures in white robes were gathered before a temple cut into the rock face. Save for hideous, indecipherable carvings across the unworldly stone the temple below the obelisk was quite plain and unadorned. The obelisk jutted like a black spike from the mountain, thick and perfectly honed as though to puncture the sky, almost visibly pulsating with its evil aura. Was it Cthulhu's presence that caused it glow so appallingly…or the Sacred Ancestors' taint? Which inscription on those temple walls had provided Dracula with his dreadful spell?

In time the others scaled the mountain face and joined D in the cover of the shade, all crouched beside him transfixed at the blasphemous scene unfurling before them. Judging from the twisted mass of ropes and chains around the possessed circle of white robed figures there must have once been at least hundred victims from all over the Frontier, but now there were only six that were shivering, and crying within their bonds, but their eyes remained utterly locked upon the ceremony before them.

The figures in whites screamed, undulated and writhed about in ways that seemed unnatural for their bodies, although their forms were not limited to humans by any means. All manner of intelligent life was among them…Elves, Nymphs, Werewolves, Were Tigers, Sprites, Moth-men…and even the Nobility with their hideous eyes gleaming and fangs flashing…the sun beamed merciless and uselessly down upon their pallid faces. Ordinarily that sight alone would have painted horror on the faces of those who had intruded upon this scene. It could only the concluded that the possessive power of their god granted them the ability to survive in the light.

A victim was pulled from her binds and lead to the scene with her head bowed low, her spirit already subjected to her fate. One of the white robes figures would tied the teenage girl to a great, wooden shape that seemed strange to the eyes of the intruders, only D could identify as a reversed cross, a symbol that had once been popular in godless rights such as this. Atop of this structure was small, craved image of the beast. She was then hoisted into the air, and the frenzied chanting, possessed dancing would begin anew. Only one fevered sentence was decipherable to D's ears.

_"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu r'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"_

The chant rose to a deafening crescendo, the voice of one of the worshippers was especially horrifying; a banshee shriek issuing from the throat of a man, then one the figures robed in gold stepped forth. Five figures wore golden robes, each one a different species, and each wearing a small jewel supposedly to represent an element of the Earth. One of the priests was a shadow wraith whose face was only black smoke; there was also a golden haired elf, a hunchbacked mutant, a human man with wild blue eyes and dreadlocked black hair and a Nobel woman of striking beauty.

It was the human who stepped forward now, glee dancing in his pale eyes, as he plunged a jeweled dagger again and again into the girl's body, laughing at her frail cries before sliding the blade across her throat. It was clear his was the terrible, shrieking voice as he screamed:

_"Ia Ia Cthulhu Ftaghn! Ia Ia Cthulhu Ftaghn! Ia Ia Cthulhu Ftaghn! IA IA CTHULHU FTAGHAN!"_

The others voice rose to the terrifying crescendo, the deranged human laughed wildly as flesh blood splattered across his already crimson face, his dreadlocks were dripping with blood. The woman's blood pooled into a narrow channel that was cut into the ground, and from there it flowed a short distance to disappear beneath the cracks of a vast stone door. The door was carved with the now familiar form of the beast, and above it a crude symbol had been scratched into the stone. The symbol was glowing a bright gold color as though it where soon to burn itself from existence. D recognized the symbol as the same seal that had pulled him from his poisoned sleep. The Elder Seal.

The crazed human laughed like a hyena as he licked the blood from his lips, shivering with delight. It was then that D snapped, in a blur of movement he reached into the depths of his coat. Five flashes of flame flew through the air; three of the wooden needles landed within the chests of the Nobles among the crowd, the other two were batted away by the pale hand of the Nobel woman in gold. D emerged calmly from the shadows.

The crazed priest laughed in his shrieking voice, "At last…we were expecting you Vampire Hunter D. This was starting to seem a bit too easy.'

Calmly D unsheathed his blade. Master Dalv emerged next from the shadows as well as Uther and the rest of the Sons of Sirius. "Go for the prisoners, they are the heart of the summoning, then get the high priests." The leader said calmly enough just as D began to move toward the white shrouded cult.

With all the grace of a silent shadow D plunged into the heart of the crowd and attacked, blood flying instantly. The Sons of Sirius pulled free their short swords and daggers and raced to aid the Hunter. D's blade whirled about in a deadly sphere of silver that found its mark almost gorgeously across the flesh off all that dared to challenge it. In only a matter of minutes twenty had been cut down beneath its blade. D's stunning yet gaunt face remained remarkably free of any droplet of blood as he plowed through his enemies, their daggers never once reaching his dark form before their hands, or else the bodies that held them where cut away.

D had cleared the way for the Sons of Sirius, but naturally the ringleaders reached the prisoners first, each one gripping the remaining five and holding knives to their throats. The shadow wraith did not hesitate, and punched it's dagger into the supple throat of its child victim. "IA IA CTHULHU!" It hissed in its death rattle as it tossed the corpse against the door. The Sons of Sirius advanced upon the leaders, fear devoid from each of their eyes as they raised their daggers against their foes.

D's blade cut another, sweeping arc through the greatly thinned cult, easily taking down another ten more. His dark eyes swept over the mutilated carnage quickly, not all where dead of course, but his gaze found no trace of life among those of Nobel blood. It was only then that he dashed toward the Elder Seal and into the standoff occurring before it. The Elven priest saw D's blade hastening toward him, but the priest had time to close his eyes and draw his dagger across the throat of his prisoner before D's blade swept through his own neck. The blood of both priest and victim appeared to be sucked into the narrow channel that lead under the door. By now Master Dalv and the other monks had seized one the prisoners from the clutches of the hunchback, but the twisted mutant growled in outrage and before the sons of Sirius understood what it intended to do it drove it's dagger into its own chest, blood flying from the wound before the beast collapsed, it's life-force joining the rest that was flowing beneath the Elder Seal.

The Nobel woman moved in a black flare, seizing the last two prisoners. "That's quite enough!" she hissed almost laughing before noticing the razor-sharp point of the curved blade at her throat. She laughed fully then, her eyes trained on the dhampir, "Very well, kill me you filthy little dhampir. It doesn't matter whose blood is spilled…prisoner or priest, my _tornasuk_ shall still heed our call!"

D's blade remained quite unmoving.

"Say…you…" the Nobel woman's black eyes went quite wide and a waxen flush paled her already translucent flesh. " Dracula…" she breathed, casting aside the prisoners in her shock.

"My name is D." the Hunter's voiced showing every hint of recognizing the woman he'd last seen millennia ago, yet naturally it harbored no emotion.

Lily Odette, his arranged fiancée of well over 9,000 years past shook her horror filled face, "So.,.so THIS is what you've become then son of Dracula? Hunting and slaying your own ancestors!" a passionate rage flooded her cheeks that looked sallow and unnatural caught in the sunlight. "Your….your pathetic! Do you think slaying me…slaying your own descendants is going to bright back that silly, simpering mother of yours?"

D's sword pressed forward but the Nobel woman sensed his attack and wildly batted his sword away, and in bold move she leapt cat like at him, her dagger drawn. D's blade whipped about, but the woman twisted unnaturally within the air, and she landed crouched and unscathed to the right of the Hunter. It was only the Hunter's near starved state that allowed her such fortune.

"You've served Cthulhu all your life. ' D stated calmly, "You've aided and served in the capture and slaying of these prisoners. You are unworthy of life."

"No!" Lily snarled, " No….your wrong Dracula! I am only carrying out my fate! I have served Cthulhu from moment of my birth because I had no choice! You have no idea…what he can do… I am only doing as I am told…but I am doing it all for us! For the Nobility!"

"I am a dhampir." D stated calmly, raising his sword again.

Lily rose like uncoiling serpent, tensed to strike. "Deny it all you wish "D" but you are a vampire! You are Nobel even if dirt is running through your veins. Perhaps you've rejected your birth right but I have not forgotten you as you ought to be! I remember the victims we drank together…the slaves we tore apart for mere delight…" with a howl of impassioned rage Lily struck out again at the dhampir.

D's left hand merely clasped down upon her right wrist, and with a single wet snap bent it fully backward so that the dagger slipped from her fingers. Lily shrieked in agony and fell to her knees, weeping instantly.

D's eyes glared down at the Nobel woman, "The time of the Nobility is over. Their macabre glory is nothing more than a fading dream of a blood soaked era. You're going to join that dream soon enough, Lily."

Lily shook her head slowly, her bloodied eyes gazed imploringly and almost rapturously at D's starved face, "Don't you understand son of Dracula…that is the only reason I have lived all these centuries and let my tornasuk command me. There was only one reason that I woke from my hibernation. I have waited for the right time for my _tornasuk_ to awaken because he can help us! He can restore the Nobles to their splendor…I know he can!" she pleaded.

D's blade rose.

Right then two terrified shrieks were cut short by the stab of a knife. Immediately following them rose a massive tremor within the earth, strong enough to break D's grip upon the Nobel woman.

D's eyes rose to see that the last two prisoners had met their deaths by the deranged human's dagger. As the Earth shuttered the mad priest screeched in laugher and whirled about sinking his dagger again and again into the flesh of the nearest of his enemies, Uther.

_"ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu r'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! IA IA CTHULHU! IA IA!"_

Those who remained of the appalling cult fell down onto their knees, and pressed their foreheads low to the jagged stone. A violent earthquake was now mercilessly gripping the island; deep jagged fissures appeared in the stone doorway as great boulders were shaken loose of the ancient structure. The Elder Seal has disappeared completely.

Master Dalv whirled about to face D, his visage was livid with hated, "Fucking lovely…we could have easily prevented this from happening if you didn't have to instigate a family reunion!" An enraged snarl parted his lips…pearly fangs showed past his lips, the monk pulled something quite unexpected from his robes. It was a familiar, long barreled pistol which he promptly aimed at D. " I am sick of this guise anyway, I suppose I should make the family reunion complete."

Master Dalv passed a hand over his quite ordinary face; as though he were brushing away smoke his image changed, shimmered and reformed into another face completely. It was that of a pallid faced man, with narrow, elegant features that mirrored D's, silky black hair flowed down around his shoulders and an all too familiar mocking smile crossed his lips.

It was undoubtedly the face of Dracula.

* * *

_Ohh cliffhanger! I love those as my regular readers can tell. ;) Anyway for those of you curious here is the translation of the Cthulhu chants…_

**_"ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu r'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" In his house in R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits, dreaming._**

_As for Ia Ia…it doesn't have a literal translation but tends to be used as a call to get the attentions of the Old Ones. **Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn** is roughly translated as "**we await you dreaming Cthulhu.**"_


	6. Chapter 6: Cthulhu Dawn

**Cthulhu Dawn**

_Note: I am not sure what it is about D that inspires me to write so much…but I know a good deal of it is his cold nature in conjunction with his perfect beauty. The fact there is just so little warmth in so beautiful an image…its damned intriguing! As well as the way he seems to seduce everyone without doing a damn thing. In this chapter I am going to start exploring the darker side of D, it's something that I plan on further exploring in the 3__rd__ part of the saga. Chapter 6 of 9. (tentative…)_

**Chapter Six: Cthulhu Dawn**

* * *

"_From beyond enter the horror of a dark and hideous nature. The fall of man is now at hand." – Dawn of Eternity, Cradle of Filth_

Even D stood transfixed in disbelief as he stared at the man before him, the vampire that was almost glittering in the sunlight. Could he have been a mere illusion conjured by the close proximity to the vessel? Most likely not… it suddenly made perfect since that the being before him was in fact flesh and blood…the monk's sarcastic and cruel nature toward D…the fact that he'd shown no fatigue as he ascended the countless stairs…the fact that Mina had said his father had asked her to give him the Elder Seal.

Lily Odette shrieked and fell to her knees, trembling, "My Sacred Lord!" she cried at Dracula's feet, but then she tensed and collapsed suddenly, twisting and writing as though in agony. "No…no I did not mean it my Lord, I did not mean it!" she gasped to the air.

Dracula merely shook his head at the girl, " Well _D, _I see we've been fortunate enough to have your_ intended_ bride to join us today, and as your are standing here I see that you must have meet up with your mother at some point, your Left Hand is here as well, as well as myself, the guest of honor. So then perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me where the Mrs. is? Where is dear Luna?"

D's eyes threw off a piercing light; the whole of his body was tensed and quivering with hatred.

Dracula laughed almost musically, "Ah yes…how cruel of me! She's gone the way of my own bride. So much blood on your hands D."

The Hunter sprang, his blade hummed and arched toward Dracula's form, but Dracula's cape flew up swifter than even D's eyes could see and shielded the blow, throwing the dhampir violently away from him. He raised his familiar gun; the same he'd used to destroy Luna, a thunderous shot rang out. D's hand shot up to block the bullet, his left hand. For a second Dracula glimpsed the glowing bullet clinched within the symboite's tiny teeth. That moment of shock got the better of him. D had righted himself and his blade sang again as it pierced his father's heart.

Dracula roared and slumped down onto his knees, lightly clutching the blade impaled through his chest. The Vampire King distantly heard the shocked cry of the Nobel woman to his side, but a pained screech quickly replaced it. Her _tornasuk_ apparently did not take pleasure into having his devotion split.

D stared coolly down at Dracula, "Master Dalv, is he dead?"

There was a faint smile on the vampire's too pallid face, "Of course. He was all too easy to seduce…I had him spilling all he knew about Cthulhu by simply meeting his eyes. As your old friend said, being cloistered so long in the monastery did indeed get to him. I am sure one of these days you'll learn how easy it is to change your image to those of the dead…you most certainly could use a different appearance. Even if my vessels weren't setting off alarm bells in my head, I could track you down just by following the trail of fainting women."

"Why are you here?" D pressed, but there was no time for an answer. An explosive blast permeated the air; it was rock being thrust outward from the temple. D had only a mere instant to retrieve his sword, but his weakened body could not retreat fast enough. With a slight flinch of horror D saw the immense boulder before it impacted him, pinning him ruthlessly down onto the rocky ground across his back and hips, yet his line of sight still remained quite clear. He saw the shower of boulders that amassed upon his father, followed by a trickle of dark blood that flowed out beneath them. His view of the temple was utterly clear, it has burst wide revealing an awning blackness in which a stench worse than the putrefied flesh of a thousand open graves was pouring. From those stinking depths there raised a massive reptilian claw, with hooked, black nails. A wild shriek of victory arose the surviving followers of the god - beast, but now their cry was in the common tongue.

_That which not dead can eternal lie, _

_And with strange eons even death may die. _

Next to rise from the malodorous lair was a mass of writhing tentacles, then it appeared as if the gelatinous green mass of the beast was slithering serpent like from its tomb. As is crept forward its body appeared to be rising, swelling taller than even the obelisk that had been its tombstone. The form of the beast unfurled to a massive bulk before the astonished eyes of worshippers and heroes alike. Its immense wings spanned the length of the whole island, its scaled and spiny dragon like body curled about the length of the temple and was coated with a sticky green slime, its writhing head pulsated and ooze dripped from his form…or perhaps it was saliva that gave evidence to the beasts hunger. Six piercing eyes bore simultaneously down upon all that survived upon R'leyh.

For a long moment there was only silence, even the alien rocks refused to crumble as D pushed the boulder from his half crushed body.

It was the two monks of the Sons of Sirius that acted first… screams of undiluted terror where pulled from their throats, and their eyes seemed to be bleeding. Without a single thought as to the cause they'd devoted their life to they turned and ran. Immediately a tentacle as thick as a tree trunk shot outward and seized one of the monks. It seemed with only the slightest pressure the monk's body exploded into a mass of flesh and bone. The other monk appeared to slump completely lifeless to the ground, his face transfixed with a glassy sort of horror that was all too familiar to D.

D clenched his sword in his hand, and he made to bolt upward and attempt to drive it into the creature but the Hunter merely pitched uselessly forward, the abhorrent horror that he did not deny was surging through his being. Yet horror was nothing more than adrenalin that served to wash away the agony of the fact that the lower half his body was crushed. Cthulhu's piercing gaze bore down for a moment on the Hunter that struggled uselessly toward him, shining blade in hand. It was a gaze of malicious hatred, and sweeping fascination.

_You should not be awake._ The beast's guttural voice rippled through D's head. The dhampir did not stop moving. It seemed as if the awakened god made the slightest pitching movement backward, away from the struggling immortal. The sight of the beast should have driven all who opposed him mad… the sound of its voice within their heads should have killed them, yet this opponent did not appear to feel them in the slightest.

_Fascinating…_

Cthulhu turned his immense head from the dhampir and hunched the bulk of its form onto the ground. Only ten had survived to see their god awaken, and each of them seemed quite unaffected as they stepped slowly toward him, and horrendously enough they climbed up onto the massive, sticky leg of the beast, and up onto its spiny back. Lily was the last to approach Cthulhu, but before she was within the ten feet of her _tornasuk_ the beasts claw was flung outward and impacted the Nobel woman ruthlessly, flinging her across the clearing were she impacted into a twisted formation of rock. Sobs welled from the vampire, "Master no…."

Cthuhlu's disgust at the Nobel woman was so violent that even D heard its voice in his head.

_You've chosen your master, bloodsucker. I have no use for those with half a heart. _

Lily sobbed in utmost agony, her face twisting like that of a woman scorned.

Cthulhu's wings rose up into the air, and in single leap that shook all of R'lyeh the beast rose up into the air, its wings beat downward, flooding the island in a gale force wind and then the beast was gone, heading for the Primal Shore.

_Dawn is at hand…_

D snarled against the pain, trying to pull himself up onto his slowly healing legs, leaning heavily against his sword.

"Oh shit….oh shit…" whimpered a voice from the vicinity of his waist.

"Help me." D ground out impatiently.

"Did you see that….did you…"

"Of course. Get to work."

Thy symboite made no attempt at aid, " I can't believe it….Cthl – fucking – ulu is awake….and he got away…I mean come on D…I've learned to expect the scary last minute save the day tactics from you but we didn't even get a chance! What the hell are we going to do?"

"I am going to kill the Nobel woman, and then I am going to collect my payment and destroy the vessel."

"Wait…shit you're seriously telling me that you're going to avoid this like it's nothing! We took it on…"

"It was my father that hired me, if you recall. It was all a ruse to trap me here. I have little concern for Cthulhu anymore; I came here to kill the Nobility."

Before the symbiote's next snide answer a frail cry caught D's attention, his eyes whipped to the left of where he struggled, and half buried beneath the rubble lay Uther. The old man was clearly soon to breathe his last, multiple stab wounds riddled his chest, blood was flowing from his mouth as well as from his eyes that appeared to have gone suddenly blind upon seeing the terrible god's birth.

"Uther." D said calmly as he pulled himself to the old man's side.

"Mr. Mayor…." The old man whimpered and reached blindly out for his hand, D took it merely as a sign of reassurance. "I can't believe it's happened….I never should have seen that….it was beyond….oh god…that face…those eyes…."

'You're going to die soon. Don't think about Cthulhu." The Hunter stated bluntly.

Uther almost smiled, "Hard thing tha'…I never married…never had children…my whole life was dedicated to stopping this moment from ever occurin'…but it ain't to late Mr. D…you can still stop him."

D said nothing.

"There is somethin' you can do fer me see…don't let my life fall victim to that damned beast…it's your life now…just don't let me rise again."

D pulled his hand from old mans. "I do not take human blood."

"Refusin' a dying mans request? Come on Mr. D…you aint that cold, I know it. Please…just take it…you need the strength if you're going to defeat Cthulhu. That's all I ask…I guess you can say I am goin' to hire you…take my life…just take down the beast."

D's face was firm set, but there was the slightest air of defeat to his aura. It was quite true…it might take him days to heal as vulnerable as he was at this point. "I still have business to attend to, I make no promises."

"That'll work…just try please." The dying man groaned.

"Very well, I will try. I will promise only that you will not rise again." The Hunter responded distantly.

Uther nodded, "Good enough…when I get to the other side I'll tell your wife that you love her."

Naturally the Hunters face showed no emotions but with more insistency than D cared to admit to himself he pulled back Uther's head and exposed his neck. Almost instantly the fangs began to sprout from his mouth, and by the time he'd leaned across the old man inch long canines were sinking into the flesh. It was simply force of habit for D to lock his arms about his victim when the blood touched his tongue, just as he'd done with Luna countless times. D pressed his lips over the wound persistently, unwilling to let a single drop escape his grasp. It was a quiet, peaceful death for the old man, D made certain of that. Uther's blood was vigorous in its final moments of flowing, rich and robust. It was the blood of an honest, valiant man.

There was a reason that Nobles desired the blood of a gorgeous, virginal woman as their nature was unspoiled, and pure. The blood of a warrior, the blood of a man of honor and morals tasted much the same, pure and unspoiled. D could sense the pride through the man life-force…he indeed believed it the utmost honor to die at the hands of the greatest warrior he'd known. Uther's face was utterly calm as he breathed his last.

Not a single drop of blood had strayed from D's lips when he arose from his willing victim, his face once again healthy and gorgeous beyond compare, his body whole and thrumming with strength. Without a moments hesitation he pulled a long, unfinished needle of wood from the pocket of his coat and thrust it powerfully into the old man's unmoving heart.

For a fleeting moment it looked as if D were going to say a few last words to the man who'd fought beside him twice, but his eyes than caught the flutter of golden robes. He briefly glimpsed Lily Odette as she pulled the limp form of the Sacred Ancestor from his tomb of rocks and into her arms. In brief, terrified steps she began to struggle toward the immense stair case.

Two more wooden needles flew from D's hand, each of them found there marks in the knee caps of the Nobel woman. She collapsed wailing, but still vainly clutching Dracula.

D rose and moved to Lily's side, his gait was even and his unearthly aura was pulsating with malice. The Nobel woman shrieked again as he approached, dropping her eyes to the bizarre ground beneath her feet. "Please….spare us…"

D bent and seized the woman by her arm, "It seems that I still have use for you both." He pressed his left hand hard against the vampire woman's forehead, an instant later she slumped unconsciously to the ground.

* * *

When Lily Odette woke she found that she was lying on a stiff, blood-soaked bed. For a minute she panicked, terrified the extensive amount of blood upon these sheets had been let from her, but the blood smelled old and upon looking down at her body she found that she was quite untouched, her robes untouched.

She was in a dark, swaying room; the briny scent of the ocean surrounded them. Immediately she withdrew, trembling against the wall as she felt a familiar malicious aura. A second later a candle flared life, bringing D's inexpressive face to light.

There was a second form across the room, one that was standing fearlessly against the Hunters aura although it appeared to be chained tightly to a metal pipe.

"My Lord…." She breathed as she recognized the pale faced prisoner.

Dracula merely smiled, "It was quite foolish of you to split your devotion right in front of Cthulhu, Miss Odette. I am surprised that the beast didn't tear you in half right there. He's far too proud of a god to take such an insult from his followers. You should have remained with your god, _our_ time is all but gone, and I can give you nothing."

"My Sacred Ancestor…" Lily breathed in sorrow but she never got a chance to finish it. D had stepped forth from the shadows and loomed above his father.

"I don't recall giving you permission to speak." He hissed venomously, a wooden needle appeared in his hand which he jammed ruthlessly down between the neck and shoulder joint of Dracula.

Lily shrieked out, her eyes unable to process the horror a second time. "No! No son of Dracula please…"

Another wooden needle appeared, and then it seemed to grow right from left side of Dracula's chest. The Vampire King could not help but to howl with agony.

"Your Sacred Ancestor is going to suffer one way or another, but I need you to talk Lily. If you talk then I will spare you the sight of it." D said evenly. "Where is Cthulhu headed? What is his plan?"

Lily whimpered, her lips moved but only a terrified little shriek came, "I…I can't!"

Oddly enough it was Dracula's smooth, accented voice that spoke up. It was laced slightly with pain but otherwise was unwavering. "Lily, Cthulhu used you and cast you aside simply because you bowed before the King of your bloodline. He has no compassion for the life time of devotion you've shown him. Help my son. I hate to admit it, but it appears that he is the only true hope we have left in this pitiful world."

A blood tinged tear cascaded down the side of her face, "He's going to the Capital. I doubt he'll pass up the major villages and cities he finds along the way, either. That's why he took his followers, to help him find his way and to point out all the major leaders that might oppose him. Once the Capital falls then he's going to awaken the Cthulhi, his sleeping children. After that there will be no fight left for humanity."

D nodded, "I thought as much. Leave now."

Trembling Lily rose from the bed, but Dracula called out to her again, "Wait….Miss Odette do you want to know why our kind have fallen into decline?" Dracula weakly thrust his head over to the direction of his torturer and son, "That right there is the reason. At least part of it. Our species is weak…weaker than you'll ever know. But in creating him it seems I irrevocably and ironically spelled our own doom. Look back in the histories Miss Odette…about 5,300 years ago when my dear son managed to destroy a small coven. Strange how such a seemingly minute thing can lead to the destruction of everything, but that coven held a vital key to the sophistication of our species. We've crumbled into utter ruin since then, you see."

A knife rose in D's hand, Lily flinched as she expected it to sink in to her King's body, but she screamed wildly when she saw that D instead held out his left hand and ruthlessly hacked the blade across his wrist.

D bent to gather the severed limb, and thoughtlessly he tossed it into the arms of the Nobel woman. Lily screeched louder as she caught the limb. "Take that with you. It's your guard. Don't even think of escape."

With a fluid shove upon her shoulder D pushed the Nobel woman out of the room, and shut the door. Once in darkness of the hall Lily unconsciously clutched the severed hand and began to weep.

* * *

"D…" Dracula half snickered, "I put that handy little symboite there for a reason. It was never intended for you to cut off and throw away whenever it's convenient for you…or whenever you'd rather not hear a voice of reason."

D's right fist hammered across Dracula's face. Had it been a mortal he'd made his victim he would have crushed their skull into a bloody pulp, but Dracula merely reeled. "You'll speak only when spoken to."

The Vampire King was quite undaunted, "Excellent work with these chains….it's going to take me hours…maybe even days to get through these. I don't understand your secret."

"Why are you here? What concern does Cthulhu have for you?"

"It's simple really; this is not a dawn I want to see breaking. But I know that's not what you want to know." Dracula's eyes where glowing with a faint blood light.

For a moment D remained ever stoic and his voice was hushed when he spoke, "Why did you do it?"

"I thought I explained this to you. She was an abomination…GAHHH!" Another wooden stake sank into his other shoulder joint. The worst of the pain was fleeting however, and when it passed Dracula spoke on. "But I don't know why you think that I killed your wife D…sure I may have trapped her, burned her city to the ground and pulled the trigger but you were the one that sentenced her to that fate."

"Yes…I killed her just the way I killed my own mother then?" D's voice was edged with biting sarcasm. "It was you that doomed my mother to a life of darkness; it was you that poisoned my wife." As he said this D pushed a slender dagger up against the center of Dracula's forehead, however this rendered no pain on the vampire.

'Your mother chose a life of darkness. But your bloodlust killed her…same as your desires killed Luna. You desired peace and rest, love and warmth but I never thought you would actually be stupid enough to attain them. I waited 9,000 long years for my revenge…waited for the time your will at last broke and tried to live a normal life. All that time I actually believed you were intelligent enough to resist those desires…that you knew the moment you hung up the sword I would be there take my revenge. I merely found my revenge and I took it…why must I be reasonable for those caught in the crossfire? The blood is on your hands alone D. Wherever you go death follows you. You should have realized that."

In response D merely pulled his knife horizontally across Dracula's forehead, crossing over his previous cut. Dracula than shrieked wildly, the sign of the cross has now been carved into his forehead. It was clearly exquisite pain, the vampire writhed and fought against the chains, bellowing out more as he jostled the stakes driven through his body, the whole of him convulsed. The agony stopped a minute later once the wound had healed over completely.

Dracula glared up at his son with hate filled eyes, but the glittering blood light thrown off by D's placid countenance was far colder, almost soulless. Dracula's voice was hoarse as he spoke, "We'll be doing this forever won't we D….two immortals…father and son forever at each other's throats, seeking a death that will never arrive? At least you're a worthy enemy."

"I will kill you one day. I can promise you that." he raised his knife again. By now Dracula had grasped that his torturer was at a disadvantage with only one hand, and he twisted his body about as best he could, trying desperately to overcome the pain in his neck and shoulders as the blade neared his face again. It was just enough to deter D. "Very well…carving that image into your skin isn't lasting enough anyway. I'll move on."

He pulled another dagger from his coat.

"D, you know I never intended for any of this to happen…if only Mina had not stolen you from me…it was the damned world that corrupted you and turned into the bitter monster that you are now and forevermore. If only I could have raised you…the entire world would have been so different. So brilliant and sophisticated, nothing would have been beyond our grasp. I know this _Dracula_. I've seen it."

"Shut up." D clinched the dagger in his teeth as he pulled the needle lodged in Dracula's chest out, and punctured it through Dracula's throat. Just as the vampire king had once done to Luna. The growl of agony burbled and died in the vampire's throat.

D took the blade back into this single hand. It was jagged and gleaming blue, the same he'd used to destroy the vessel containing Draucla's soul. As it sank again and again into Dracula's flesh the caustic pain of the poison welled assaulted him without mercy. The terrible, muted screams where rivaled only by the cries of the Nobel woman outside the door.

* * *

Within three hours the barge approached the city of Runh. Naturally Cthulhu had already arrived, his bulk towering a hundred times above the whole of village. He seemed to take delight in watching the villagers come at him with their feeble weapons, letting their bullets bounce uselessly from his oozing skin before taking them in his tentacled maw.

D surged from below the decks and into the flood of sunlight that seemed only to highlight the carnage that was occurring in the village. Lily whimpered and withdrew into the shadows thrown across the deck as if that could hide the horror of D's blood covered face. He regarded the sight of the beast without care or passion.

"Did….did you kill…" she gasped.

"Unlikely. May I have my hand back now?" he murmured.

"Ah damn, thought you'd never ask." A gruff voice answered. Lily gave another cry when the hand she'd forgotten all about twisted from her grasp and leapt on its own accord down to the deck, and scuttled toward the Hunter. Apparently the symboite had not made its presence know.

The Hunter bent down to scoop up with limb, the flesh of the two halves seemed to meld perfectly together as thought they had never been separated. "Why the hell do you always leave me in such lovely company?" the hoarse voice rambled. "I am not even going to ask…I really don't want to know. You really have no heart…and if you did grey would be its color."

"You forget and forgive far too easily." The Hunter answered the symboite in a low and measured voice. He dipped his again hands into a bucket of drinking water and used it to wash the blood from his face.

"So…I am guessing you've decided were taking out Cthulhu, seeing as he's about practically right there."

"That's right. It should be an interesting fight if nothing else."

"Bullshit…" the hand laughed morbidly, "you just don't want Daddy to have a chance at him, do you?"

"Shut up." D said as he made his way to the railings, they where close enough to the shore for him to swim comfortably to the sand banks.

"No!" Lily Odette cried vehemently and rushed out from the shadows to grab D's armor plated shoulder, "No! You can't go."

D shoved her harshly away. "I'll deal with you later. Now is my chance."

Lily was undeterred, and she reached out to grab his hand, pulling him to face her in a truly astonishing burst of strength, "No, I won't let you Dra…D! You can't go please…just…" Lily eyes waivered and her rosy lips trembled as though disbelieving of the words that where soon to pass them, "stay with me!"

There was not the faintest stir of interest in D. "Ugh….here we go again…" raised a quiet voice, but it never reached the woman's ears.

Fearlessly Lily moved into the immobile circle of D's arms and pressed her face against his armored chest. "You cannot lie to me D…I know you hate destroying your own kind. I know that you hate torturing you own father…" her voice waivered slightly at those words, "You know none of this would have ever happened if the Nobility had not fallen from grace, we would not be reduced to mere Frontier nightmares terrorizing hick towns."

A thunderous roar drifted from the shore, causing the very air around the Nobel and the dhampir to tremble.

"If only we were great again…they'd be no need for Vampire Hunter D. They'd only be us…as we were meant to be! Cthulhu will make us great again…I just know it! I may have fallen from his graces…but not you…he's fascinated with you…he'll do anything you wish!" the Nobel woman cried in her passionate fury. "Even if what the Sacred Ancestor said is true, you can bring us back to our splendor!"

D merely set his hands on the girl's shoulders to push her roughly away. "Stop this."

She shook her head, "Never, don't you see…Cthulhu is the answer to all that is wrong with our world! He'll bring the Nobility salvation; he'll restore the glory that once was! He'll bring a glorious new dawn. Just imagine D…in another few thousand years the Nobility would have been able to correct the flaws of our bloodline, perhaps even found a way to bring those who have died back to life.

"You…you couldn't have heard of how the Sacred Ancestor mourned when he lost his Queen…. all the genius and noble things he did to try to bring her back…he would have succeeded…I know it… is that what you want then? To bring back a loved one?"

Indeed D's face had lowered; his eyes were downcast in a look of the most abject sorrow.

Lily's unbeating heart surged in soft triumph when she saw the singular emotion crossing the Hunters face. It was a beautifully tragic vision unlike any she'd yet before seen, and helplessly she surged forward again to throw her arms around his immense frame, and forced her cold lips down onto his own immobile ones.

Lily refused to give up and she forced her kiss harder upon him, pressing her full bosom up against his form and slid her hands into his hair.

It was then that D stopped resisting, his lips moved against hers, entrapping and caressing her. He pulled her momentarily closer, sliding a thin hand into her dark curls and down her smooth back…

Lily fell away from D's embrace; a blinding pain seized the whole of chest cavity. It was radiating out from the right side…from her heart. Her eyes gazed down first at the thin wooden needle that was protruding from her heart, then at D. Her killers eyes where again clear, dark and cold…as empty as the void between the stars. A faint sob passed her lips before she crumpled to the ground, her form already disintegrating into a powdery ash.

Without a second glace D turned away, facing towards Cthulhu, and then leapt over the side of the barge.


	7. Interlude Part Six: Alhazred's Wisdom

**Cthulhu Dawn**

_Note: This shall be the last Interlude for this part of the story. I would have liked to delve deeper into the gladiator history I have given our beloved Hunter, but I think he's learned what he needs. More Interludes are planned for part three so never fear. This might be a slower chapter, but it is important later._

_BTW the skill D acquires in the memory is not Lovecraftian…I took the basic idea from Egyptian mythology, and just tweaked it. (chapter 7 of 9)_

* * *

**Interlude Part Six: Alhazred's Wisdom **

"_The child without a name grew up to be the hand, to watch you, to shield you, or kill on demand." – Hand of Sorrow, Within Temptation._

D plunged into the heart of Runh, paying no attention to the buildings that were crumbling to dust around him. His sword was drawn and luminous in the daylight before the vast shadow of Cthulhu dimmed its glow. D himself seemed to oddly shimmer in the blackness of the beast's shadow, he stopped and stared calmly up at the hideous creature. Cthulhu's gleeful trampling, writhing and feasting stopped abruptly as it caught sight of the ebony cloaked dhampir. The victims it clutched within its tentacled grasp came tumbling back down to Earth, their screams echoing out for a moment before there was a sick, wet thud like the sound of a melon bursting.

_Hunter…._

"This ends now. I have been hired to stop you."

_That is a shame. That is quite futile. _Cthulhu's immense form lumbered slightly forward, more stone work surrendered to the beasts hulk, creating a gigantic, dusty clearing of desolation for the coming battle. _I like you, D. You're the only creature I've yet dreamed of that holds any mystery upon this pathetic world. And you're a true mercenary. You have my respect. Pity._

"Now" D answered impatiently, his body was still and utterly untouched by fear; his sword was unwavering in his hand.

Cthulhu raised his immense talon and swiped its twelve foot long claws downward. For so massive a creature, its form moved as though the very air feared to resist it, it fell mercilessly upon D's image….but no blood was let. The Hunter had easily avoided this predictable move, what Cthulhu has pierced was merely the after image of him. The flesh D had leapt easily fifteen feet into the air, his cape was swirled out behind him like the wings of a great mythic bird. For a moment or two he seemed to defy the very laws of gravity as he hung in suspension. Cthulhu's claw moved again as if to swat him from the very air, but D had been awaiting this and allowed gravity to rule him once again and landed gracefully upon the claws that moved faster than mortal eyes could have seen.

He wasted no time in clamoring up the colossal arm, greatly aided by his natural balance and the stickiness of the creature's skin. Try as Cthulhu did to shake the dhampir from its form, it was to no avail. D stood erect, and unfazed by his attempts. The mass of writhing tentacles did prose a problem however, D's blade whirled about and the appendages fell in a grim shower about him, yet it was useless. Almost the second the appendages fell they reappeared as if they had never been lost. D hacked through them again, undeterred and pressed forward but even the split moment he required to proceed toward the head was denied by instant regeneration. Even D could not forever doge them, naturally they seized him and hurled him unceremoniously away. D crashed into the side of a half crumbled building, a pained groaned escaped him when he tumbled back to the ground.

"Ugh…" groaned a voice from his left hip. " Don't you hate these regenerating motherfuckers?"

"Ordinarily there is a slight delay in regeneration, enough for me to strike a killing blow. But it seems as if I really I am dealing with a creature not of this Earth." D answered in a tone that suggested he was merely contemplating philosophy rather than dealing with the most bloodthirsty of the Old Ones.

"So what's the game plan, pretty boy? Even if you did get a vital point it won't do any good. Like you said, not an Earth resident, and not bound by our laws. _I_ couldn't even cook up something for this bad boy…you can't kill what isn't even bound by Earth laws."

"Then I'll use a deeper law, a universal law. I'll use the knowledge of the Old One's against them."

"Wait a sec…" the voice piped up in shock, "When did you acquire knowledge about the Old Ones?"

"It was a gift, if you'll recall. Thousands of years ago." D answered calmly, lifting his fallen blade back into his hands.

"A gift? Wait…I think I can recall…"

D did not pause to let the symboite speak, rather he focused his gaze down upon the slender curve of his sword and strangely enough he whispered to it. It was a strange yet flowing word, "_Rshahti_".

At the utterance of the strange word D's blade began to throw off a bright, silvery glow…as though it has been brought to life, as if the very essence of the weapon, its soul, had been coaxed forward to shine in all its glorious power.

"No!" A sudden, familiar shriek welled from within the ruins of the city. From the shadows and dust emerged the first live human that D had yet seen. The dust clung to the man's black dreadlocks, blood soaked face and robes, giving him the appearance of a ghost. It was the crazed priest from R'lyeh. "No…" he whispered in his sibilant voice. "I cannot allow you to use the very gift _I_ taught you against my God!"

D merely stared at the human that gnashed fangs similar to that of the Nobilities. He'd never before seen this man until R'lyeh and therefore he only granted him that spare moment of his attention before turning back to his opponent. Cthulhu was watching what the Hunters next move with curious eyes.

The crazed human leapt at D, his jeweled blade drawn. It was a pathetic last resort for the human. D merely whirled about and in a series of two shimmering arcs chopped off the man's arm at the wrist, then hacked down vertically through the center of his body. D was again facing Cthulhu before the two perfect halves of the human had time to thud to the ground.

For a fleeting instant D could sense the sudden exodus of the human's soul rushing upward. It was an awareness that he'd grown to utterly disregard over the eons but this soul did have a bold and ancient sense of familiarity.

"So…I _did_ know him. Seems he must have learned to take a different form and that he did once teach me this gift." He murmured in faint interest.

A thunderous roar, akin to a rockslide tumbling down a mountain face welled up from Cthulhu when the beast acknowledged the death of his most devoted follower. The god lunged forward, faster than possible for its hulking frame. Again D flew up into the air with a light spring of his feet, and his glittering sword came slashing down at the tentacles that stretched forth. Now a caustic wail welled from the beast when five tentacles fell away and black blood spurted from the wounds.

The slightest hint of pride colored the Hunter's face as he landed and studied the damage, but he did not waste a moment before sheathing his unworldly sword, and then reached to his coat and pulled forth two wooden needles, hefting them in both hands. D again focused onto the weapons and breathed another strange word.

"_Nasfe!" _

The spears glowed to life in the same manner of the sword, D hurled each of them and each found their mark in the center eye on both sides of Cthulhu's head. The scream that ripped from the creature was enough to make even D cower and clutch his ears.

_How! How can this be! _The beast cried in D's head_. Wounds of the flesh…impossible. This, this…pain!_

Apparently the beast was wise enough not to test its luck again, it merely launched its form into the sky with its powerful legs, the wings spread the width of the ruined city and leaving only a gale force wind in their wake, Cthulhu was gone.

"Damn it." D hissed in uncharacteristic frustration.

"I gotta say…nice move there. Using the knowledge from a slave of the Old Ones against them. You do shock the hell of me quite often." The hand jerked on its own accord toward the pool of black blood that stained the street. D took the hint and bent down to let the creature make its analysis. "Well from what I am gathering that's certainly enough to shock it, but the damage isn't going to last. This is a baddie that's had more eons than even I can learn to count and perfect its body and soul, another soul won't do it lasting harm. But hell…you wounded Cthulhu, that's something NOBODY can claim."

'Well that is not enough for me." D responded and began to pace restlessly through the carnage littered streets. "I am in involved now. I won't let him get away."

"Yes! That's the spirit!" Left Hand shouted out in anticipation.

D found what he was looking for in the rubble of what looked to have once been well off house. It was a sleek and slender black chrome nuclear powered motorbike. Using nuclear fusion it was capable of traveling at speeds of 150 mph, without needing recharging for more than 300 miles. With the mere touch of his left hand the engine roared to life. D mounted the bike with the same ease he had on his cyborg mounts, and tore out of the ruined city, pushing the bike at more than 250 mph. He soared past the immense dragon shape hurling through the sky in only a mere fifteen minutes. A hundred miles past the colossal form of Cthulhu, D found the decrepit ruins of what had once been a grand, paved super highway that lead to the heart of a once great empire, the Capitol.

* * *

_D spurred his horse into a frightful gallop, the thunderous roar of the quite literally bloodthirsty crowd arose in a sickening chant, "Dracul! Dracul! Dracul!"_

_D unsheathed the slender sword slung across his naked back. He despised the limited field of vision the decorative helmet he wore gave him, yet it remained more necessary than his sword. Now that D often found himself fighting in the grandest stadiums the Nobility had, the protection of his true identity was vital. He was known as "Dracul" or "The Dragon", at first because of his brutal fighting style, and then later for the decorative, spiked armor he wore on his head, shoulders and shins. It had been nineteen years since any outside of his gladiator ring had seen the dhampir's face. _

_His opponent spurred his own horse into a gallop, and with a booming war cry raised his own blade to charge at D. They raced joust like toward each other and that was what D had been expecting. A second before their swords should have clashed together D pulled sharply against the horses reins, and dug his spiked spurs into the beasts belly causing the horse to rear upward in protest. D's left hand rose, and in it he held an immense bullwhip, the same he'd won in his first fight nineteen years before. The whip flashed outward and wrapped around the opposing dhampir's sword, yanking it from his hands. The enemy did not even have time to acknowledge the loss of his weapon before D's blade was moving, and found its mark into the neck of the dhampir. A bright jet of blood gushed from the stump of the neck, before the corpse thudded down to the ground._

_A near deafening roar came from the crowd, interspersed with praise for "Dracul". D slid off his horse and gave a formal bow for the crowd, yet his eyes remained fixated, glittering with a ruby light as they sought out the pale face located in the most lavish balcony, the dark haired form that clapped in slow praise but appeared to have no true interest in the single gladiator standing amid the corpses of fifteen dhampirs, and three lesser dragons. _

_D's hands were trembling; blood flowed out from between his fingers from where his nails had cut into the palms._

* * *

"_I thought I told you to leave me alone." D hissed to the scantily clad woman that peered into the darkness of the wagon he now had the luxury of. _

_She shook her head, "Aww, yeh have no idea what your missing!" she purred in what was supposed to be seduction and she crawled across the bare floor on her hands and knees, almost the whole of her breasts where visible in the low cut corset she wore. "I won't even charge ya… do anything to me…"_

_D's eyes strayed ever momentarily not to her half naked torso, but to the slender neck. He lunged forward and seized her by her tempting throat. "This is the LAST time I am telling you wrench, leave me the hell alone!" With a simple movement of his arm his flung the prostitute out of his wagon._

_D let out a long sigh and removed the cumbersome helmet from his head, placing it alongside the rest of his armor, yet his weapons remained still on the belt slung around his hips and across his bared chest. _

_He was the most famous gladiator within the past decade or so and thus had earned far more rights than when he'd first stepped into the stadium. In truth he had the freedom to live like a celebrity, even the right to temporally venture away from the confines of his slave ring. While all other gladiators of his privilege used the rights for the whorehouses than would later provide their meals, D used his freedom merely to visit the sword smiths, or the book dealers. For the most part he remained within his private wagon, hiding from the painful rays of the sun although they did not even wound his skin any longer, and quietly studied a wide variety of topics. He did not consume living blood…in fact after so many years of being the cause of its shedding he found himself completely immune to its once gripping charm; it was the same with the lecherous women that dogged his footsteps. He'd never taken a woman into the bed during his captivity. Other than books, and weapons the only indulgence he allowed himself to take was single bottle of Shangri-la wine once a year._

_D opened a thick, heavy tome and by the light of a guttering candle settled in silently for the night. An annoyed sigh again passed his lips half an hour later when familiar human footsteps headed toward his wagon. 'What is it?" he sighed when a fat, and reeking captain of the ring by the name of Dalis poked his head through the canvas._

_The captain's face was frantic, "Mr. Dracul, we need your help! It's a prisoner from two weeks back; he's killed every single one of our guards without even touching them…"_

"_That doesn't concern me."_

"_You've been ordered to slay him, by the Master's orders!" the fat man gasped._

"_Very well." D reluctantly put away his book and followed the guard. _

_He lead D toward the center of the encampment were the prisoners and newest captives were held. He was directed to a solitary, squalid little cage in which the prisoner in question was being held. Indeed in an eerie circle corpses were littered around the cage, but D could not smell blood. The man crouching within his black cloak was human. _

_Dalis's pudgy form scurried away the second D approached the bars, and he paused only momentarily to toss D the keys the cage before leaving him to his lonesome. Silently D unsheathed a slim dagger and unlocked the cage. The human inside did not move until D had closed the bars behind him, and even then he merely raised his face so the camp fire haloed his features._

_At first even D felt a surge of fear creep down his spine as he was certain that the face he was staring was a human skull, it took D a moment to realize that it was only the man's severe disfigurement that gave him such an appearance. His skin was quite pallid, but the horror of his skull like face was due mostly to the fact the man had no nose, only a gaping black hole and scarred hole where one had once been. The skull like appearance was accented by the thick slashes of scars that where placed upon each of the man's hollow cheeks. Upon closer inspection D saw that he did not have ears either, only small holes and ring of thick scars. The disfigured man grinned up at D however, his face showing little awareness of his terrible appearance and wisdom was rampant though his eyes. "I am honored." He said his voice heavily accented like those from the deserts in southern Frontier. "It is not often that a man gets to meet his killer square in the eyes and still desire him. I desire you now every bit as much as I did in my dreams. I've seen your face countless time…beauty beyond mortally…or even immortality."_

_D's answer was unemotional, "I do not have interest in the flesh, if you force your hand upon me than your death will not be quick as I had planned it to be."_

_At this the monster laughed, the scars on his cheeks stretching wide, "Now that truly amuses me. Does a thing a pitiful and mutilated as I look as though I am capable of flesh pleasure? No dhampir. I am not even a man any longer. I am a necromancer. My desire is of knowledge. And my desire for you is merely to gaze upon the very face of divinity."_

_D seemed rather interested in the man's cryptic response "Divinity? I am a dhampir. I am filth."_

_The man shook his head, "I know that's not true. Now that I am looking upon your face at last, I know I have seen perfection. To a magician there can be nothing more gorgeous that the perfect union of light and dark or in your case human and vampire."_

_D stared at the necromancer for a long time, speechless rather than silent, "What is your name?" he said at last sheathing his dagger._

"_My birth name matters not…same was with you. It was fated that we would meet; my dreams tell me that I have must share the gift of my knowledge with you and in return you grant me peace. In your presence I shall go by the name I choose to possess. Call me Alhazred."_

"_Call me D. You said you have dreamed of me. What did you see?"_

"_Well in my dreams you look quite different than you appear now, but that doesn't matter I know I have found you. You wore all black and wore your hair very long to shield your face from the sun. You are heavily muscled as you are now, yet you wore jeweled rings, bracelets and a gold necklace. You appeared rather androgynous which is fitting for your dual nature. The blackness of your eyes told me that I was gazing as the face of the man who would end this mortal life of mine. And you went by a different name than "Dracul the Gladiator."_

_Now the necromancer appeared to have captured D's undivided attention, "What was it?"_

"_Vampire Hunter D." _

_A shadow of astonishment crossed D's features. _

"_Yes…the Vampire Hunter D. I predict that name shall reach be rooted in the very bedrock of history until there are no living things upon this Earth to remember it,"_

_D seemed unfa__zed by this revelation, "Your name, I have heard of it before."_

_Alhazred nodded. "You have. You have the airs of a well educated man. It was I that wrote the Necromonicon…or at least I did millennia ago in another life."_

_D nodded, "I have read it, and I did not believe a word you wrote. I have seen no evidence of the Old Ones that you proclaimed to rule all."_

_Still the necromancer was grinning, "Perhaps it's better that you do not."_

"_You said you've lived millennia. That is not possible. I do not smell the stink of the Nobility about you."_

_Alhazred laughed as though quite amused, "Now begins the conversation we've been fated to hold. It strikes me as quite amusing that you appear to be a man of hard science rather faith as myself, and yet something I am about to say is destined to affect you… and therefore the world in ways I can hardly fathom. To answer your question, yes I am only human. I have only lived for 35 years in THIS current body. But long ago I took steps to ensure my mortal death will only be temporary. It's seems to be a cruel twist of fate however that I am yet unable to restore my mortal body to wholeness. Still, image is fleeting. I have lived countless times._

_Never the less, I can tell you many things D. Anything you wish….perhaps that will help me to decide what it is I am fated to tell you."_

_D's question was abrupt, "What happens to the soul after death?"_

"_Ah yes….a simple question, and in truth a simple, but varying answer. The closest answer lies in the mythology of the Egyptians who believe that the soul was separated into different parts. Upon death the soul departs the body as we all know. It is not bound to the rules of the physical so upon passing through the veiled gateway from this plane of existence it can dwell anywhere. Yet it's not always that the soul is at peace. Upon death it may also splinter, and a portion of it remains forever on the Earth, confused, trapped and in everlasting despair, unless that portion…the ghost as most call it, can find its way through the veil, and reunited with its other half. The half in the otherworld often will not reincarnate or rest until this occurs. But there exists a very simple spell to help the entrapped ghost. If you can get the ghost to say the name of the one it loved most in life, than peace shall find it and it will cross the veil. Does that answer your question, gladitor?"_

_D gave only a grim nod. _

"_Very well, is there anything else, gladiator? If not I suppose you ought to send me through the veiled gateway."_

_The dhampir's eyes reflected a moment. "There is someone whom I wish to destroy utterly. I wish to eliminate his soul from existence. How do I do it?"_

_Alhzred's horrific face was positively glowing with merriment now. "The best way to go about that would be to master the Ren, which would be the art of learning true names. I will not lie, it is a meticulous, clouded art that even I know the mere basics of, yet you have boundless power to perfect it better than myself. You see in all things, even things that do not possess life there exists something akin to a soul. If it has substance than there is harmony between the atoms that give it that form, and for everything there is a name for that harmony. That name varies greatly which makes the art of the Ren a difficult magic to master, but if you know the name of that harmony, of the soul you become its master. Its full power is unleashed and anything you wish that object or person to do they have no choice but to obey. If you knew the true name of a chain of mountains you could command them to throw themselves up before your enemies…or if you knew the true name of your enemies than you could command their soul to destroy itself."_

_Now it was D's eyes that where gleaming with a sadistic glee. "How do I learn this name?"_

"_Seduction, which you have plenty of. It is best to start with an object that is dear to you."_

_Instantly D gripped the whip that was coiled through his belt. _

_Alhazred kept on, "Now you must speak to the object with your mind, become aware of its solidity, of the tinniest particles that create its existence and coax them into telling you the name that binds them all together and creates the essence of that object."_

_D nodded, keen already to give this art a try. His eyes bore harshly down upon the tightly coiled leather hide in his hand. In truth it was not especially hard for D's scientifically inclined mind to focus his awareness right down the electrons, protons and neutrons that created the atoms, which created the cells, that created the whole of the werewolf hide. There was a singular, shimmering thread that seemed to link the whole of the object together and kept it from falling to dust in his hands, that was the unity he sought to understand. Coaxing a voice from the whip in his hand was as simple as seducing his former victims to lean backward and expose their tender necks. All he needed was to ask. _

"_What is your name?"_

_For a instant D recalled the wild thread of energy….the soul that he'd felt writhing within this weapon, begging to be understood the moment he'd seized it in his very first battle. The name blazed forth in D's mind__**. Yugita. **_

_D uttered it softly, and upon doing so the leather appeared to flair to life and glowed a violent red in his hand. D's face was astonished as he met the necromancers monstrous one._

_"I don't believe it." D said simply enough._

_"The proof is right before you. Don't let the simplicity of that fool you D, it's easier with weapons. They were forged for the hand of man, and yearn to be understood but most everything is not so willing. You shall see, but I dare say I've told you everything you wish to know, I have given you my gift."_

_D lowered the glowing whip, "You have. I have orders from my master, I cannot disobey them Alhazred."_

_The man smiled as thought hearing this own true name spoke from the lips of his beautiful executioner was the greatest honor he could dream of. "I am ready."_

_D hefted the whip he now owned completely in his hand, and murmured softly to the weapon. "Take this man's life."_

_He snapped the whip, the arc of red barely touched the length of Alhazred's robed chest, yet the man collapsed like a puppets whose stringers where cut, and lay unmoving in the moldering hay._

_D did not glace back as at the necromancer as he left the prison._

* * *

_Only a mere day passed before D was called into the presence of the master of the slave ring. This was something that stirred a hint of shock in the gladiator as he'd only spoke to the master three times since his capture and each time he was granted a higher place in the ring of slaves. The master was the same dirty, blonde haired man that had proclaimed D's identity to his captors, but that was a secret that none of the captors had shared. The master words had been true; D had been worth a hundred times more to them as slave than as a Nobel prince. _

_The master motioned D to take a seat across from his fire as D entered his tent; there was smile upon the man's grizzled face. "You did well with that necromancer monster last night, Dracul."_

_"Thank you." D answered mechanically, speaking merely because he was expected to in the man's presence._

_"You see Dracul that is what I like most about you. You're a man of utmost honor. I can see in your eyes that you abhor me, and everything this filthy ring I own stands for, but you will follow my orders regardless."_

_"I am in your service. You feed and clothe me; I must do as you say." _

_At this the man beamed with a slight since of pride. "When we captured you son of Dracula, naturally I could not believe my luck but I was prepared to deal with the hardships. I knew that Dracula would never think to look for his son in the slave rings, rather I was prepared to deal with the hardships of having a soft, spoiled prince cursing my name, and near bursting into flames at the slightest ray of sunlight. I did not think you would survive five minutes in the stadiums no matter how brilliant the fight you put up was. But you proved me wrong the very first day. I could see you were in agony, yet you never complained. You never seemed to resist captivity. It was almost as if you welcomed the shadow of slavery to hide under. The more I've observed of you these past 19 years the more I believe that you where never the spoiled brat I assumed you to be. Tell me, Dracul, who raised you?"_

_"My mother did." D answered, "I did not know my father until I was 16."_

_"And were you in fact hiding in our captivity from the eyes of your father? In all these years I've never seen you make a push for freedom, or change the brutal appearance we gave you. And whenever you fight the large stadiums, the ones he might attend, you hide your face."_

_Again, answering merely because it was expected D spoke, "Yes." _

_The master shook back his graying hair and beamed, "Well as your master, son of Dracula, I say although your performance is astonishing you were not born to be a gladiator. The blood of mercenary flows through your veins, the blood of a Hunter. So I am releasing you from my command on one condition."_

_The master was not certain why he was disappointed when he saw no real emotion on the dhampir's pallid face, indeed the only vivid feeling this immortal seemed to have was ferocious anger. "What is it?" was all that he said._

_He handed D a small framed photograph of a young woman with dark hair and pale blue eyes, "That is my daughter, Sayao. Three days ago she was bit by a vampire who has been stalking her for the past year. Kill the vampire before she sprouts fangs and turns them on me."_

_D nodded, taking a long look at the photograph, "Very well. Thank you."_

_"One last thing," said the man reaching into the pocket of his shirt, "You've earned me quite a bit of money, therefore it's only fair that I pay you with something even more dear that your freedom." _

_He pulled a long golden chain into D's sight, hung from it was a familiar sapphire pendant. _

_"Good luck, Vampire Hunter Dracul."_

_"Call me D." said the young man softy as he reached out to take his payment. _

* * *

It was two weeks before the dust coated crystal and metal spires of the Capital where visible to D's eyes, followed quickly by the towering cold steel walls that had sprung up around the vast city within the last hundred years. They were interspaced every mile or so with immense atomically powered guns, and their sole purpose was to keep out the Nobility.

D slowed halted his motorcycle on the vast, crumbling highway that had once led directly into the heart of the Capital. It was one of seven that merged into its heart, one from each continent, but now each had fallen into utter ruin. This remained the only super highway safe enough for travel.

D was not alone.

From the line of the horizon, just beneath the gleaming red pinprick of Mars an immense hulking shape was moving ever closer to the Capital, and only a mere 15 miles or so from where D stood, he glimpses the second stalker that had followed him from Runh. He was positive of its identity. The pallid face was just visible beneath stalkers black hair, and even across this distance his eyes seemed to be throwing off their blood light.

A bloody dawn was soon to arise for the Capitol.


	8. Chapter 8: Humility

**Cthulhu Dawn**

_Note: Oh this one was a toughie to write. It seemed like I have been writing and rewriting every other scene to make it flow the way I wanted. But I think I managed to do okay, I haven't had a chapter that challenged me so much in a quite a bit. Chapter 8 of 9. _

**Chapter Eight: Humility**

* * *

_"The Slayer does not walk in this world." – Restless, Buffy the Vampire Slayer_

The first rays of sunlight had burst over the horizon when the atomic guns trained on D, and the shadow that was rapidly approaching him. The sunlight was glittering off the Capital's towers made of a translucent crystal like metal, causing them to give off a strange almost unearthly glow far akin to the alien stone of R'lyeh.

"State your business here dhampir!" a frantic voice cried at D from an intercom somewhere within the steel wall. The walls had been erected about the Capital when the city voted in their current governor. In truth he was little more than deranged, cybernetic human with a lust for power and domination, but by a strange fault to his programming he had a fierce hatred for the Nobility. Nobody complained about it, the Nobility's shadows had at lasted faded from the streets of the Capital. A hundred years had passed since there had been a single baleful mark upon a human throat within these walls. Dhampirs were most certainly not allowed within this iron curtain.

"I am D, a Hunter." He answered calmly. "I do not intend to enter your city, but soon a beast far greater than I will arrive to foresee your destruction. I am here to stop it."

"Turn back! We have no need for _your_ kind here!" another, harsher voice spoke.

D nodded calmly, "As soon as my work is done, I shall gladly turn back."

"No. Destroying the beast is MY job." A smooth accented voice spoke from behind D.

D's face was blank as he regarded Dracula who had moved by his side.

"WHO ARE YOU? TURN BACK NOW YOU FILTH!" the unseen guards roared.

Dracula flashed his hideous smile at the iron curtain; fresh blood had stained his teeth. The guards gave a horrific, maddened cry from the intercom. They must not have yet seen the Nobility in the sunlight, which in its self was far worse than the sight of the hulking shadow that was approaching them. Indeed that was another reason the wall was fortified so, they were used to greater dragons and monsters of all sizes attempting to force their way into the heart of the city.

There was a mechanical whirl and then a thunderous blast as one of the guns fired. Dracula merely flung his cape up to shield him; the deadly explosion merely ricocheted off the suddenly leaden material, and bolted back to the weapon it had sprung from. They vaguely glimpsed the human guards dashing for cover before there was another ball of flame that this time engulfed the weapon.

D remained quite disinterested in the scene.

Dracula dropped his cape and regarded D coolly, "This is rather odd. Here we stand, father and son before the city that was once ours, and you're not trying to kill or to torture me. I am almost disappointed in you."

The form on the horizon was growing clearer now; the atrocity of its face was utterly visible. It was clear now that this was no mere dragon. The automated lights of the Capital flickered off, leaving the image of the crumbling and dust coated ruin the Capital had truly fallen in naked to the sunrise. A slow, almost collective scream arose from the throats of the every citizen as they peered out their windows at the monster that was towering far higher than their walls.

Dozens of tiny lights appeared to dot the skies. They quickly began to burn brighter and brighter as they neared the Earth's surface.

D answered his father callously. "Torturing you will bring me no pleasure now." The two figures regarded each other hotly before turning their eyes back to the chaotic skies around them. "You never told me why you are here."

The fierce wind from the beasts' wings was tearing at the pair's long hair and black cloaks. Chimes were tinkling chaotically in the city as an immense shadow was crawling over the whole of the metropolis.

There was the faintest rumble just below the Earth.

"It's simple D, Lily Odette and all the other Nobels that have followed and still follow this loathsome beast are nothing more than lambs for the slaughter. Those who worship him do so in hopes that he'll again bring forth the age of the Nobility, but Cthulhu is interested merely in bloodshed, and clearing the land for his atrocities. He's quite simply the greatest enemy my failed kingdom has ever faced. My followers lost faith in me with the collapse of our empire, but now I am here to show them who their true god is! Just as you were my only success, I am the only hope left!" Dracula's form appeared to be glowing with a visible aura of beaming pride as he pulled the pale, multifaceted stone he'd stolen from the Sons of Sirius from his coat. "Ah….here they come."

Even D was overwhelmed by the series of events that followed. Cthulhu surged from the sky, and landed upon the ground mere feet from where the pair where standing, the impact of his landing rocked the whole of Capital visibly. The beast's tentacles roamed skyward and appeared to twist about in a coordinated motion, as though he were making an invisible sigil in the air.

A second after doing so the earth ten miles within and around the Capital appeared to burst skyward, and the groaning creak of opening coffin lids was heard almost in unison. Gorgeous, pale figures in stunning gowns, robes and tunics stretched their hands forth toward the sun. Hundreds of Nobles which had fled to the relative safety of the Earth and into hibernation had awakened to the call of Cthulhu.

It was not without a jolt of sadness that D watched impossible scene unfolding before him. He could recall glancing at a certain black canvas, with a girl whom secretly would have given her soul to see the scene that had once been painted on the black canvas. It was the same scene that was now unfolding before him.

The hundreds of pinpricks in sky rained down in explosive balls of fire all about the landscape, and from the twisted remains of rocket ships the Nobility that had fled to the depths of space for safety stepped once more upon the Earth.

Already the screams of from the first victims of the newly awaked Nobility were renting the air.

The atomic guns were firing wildly at the Nobility and the gigantic demon and while a few managed to reduce an unprepared vampire to cinders most moved faster than the eye could follow, and the fireballs merely broke harmlessly on Cthulhu's flesh. D saw that the tentacles he'd severed from the beast had indeed regenerated, but each of his center eyes appeared somewhat hazy. Cthulhu did not appear to acknowledge D; his baleful gaze was aimed at the Sacred Ancestor instead.

_Vlad Dracula, the failed king of my pawns. _Cthulhu addressed, glaring placidly down at the Vampire King.

"Cthulhu." Dracula answered back in challenge.

_Your flock has abandoned you. Every one of these bloodsuckers was all too willing to desert you; I surfaced within most of their dreams only a few days ago. It seems their dear Sacred Ancestor has fallen from grace._

"Never!" Dracula cried sounding very much like the blood crazed warlord he had been eons before. "It seems I am their only king, now and forever! I shall inherit the Earth once more!"

He thrust the egg sized stone high into the air and within the sight of the beast that it was intended to destroy. The jewels faint blue glow flared brighter against Cthulhu's immense shadow. For a singular moment the jewel gleamed as bright and lustrous as the star it had been mirrored after. Cthulhu shrank backward, blinded by its poisonous light. The Nobles still trapped on the other side of the iron wall watched in abject horror.

But the light of the jewel quickly than flickered and then died, all glow within the stone appeared to fade completely from existence until it was no more than a colorless rock clinched within the Sacred Ancestor's hand. It was if the life within the stone had been stifled by the shadow of the Old One.

"No…" he murmured in utmost disbelief, comically shaking the stone as though to coax it back into life.

_Is that all, Vampire King? _Cthulhus's telepathic message was thick and mocking.

Dracula cast the stone angrily upon the ground, and with a thunderous war cry he unsheathed the jeweled sword at his hip, and lunged forward.

Cthulhu's bulk did not even move, two immense tentacles merely shot forth and with amazing dexterity for their girth seized each of his arms and legs. For an instant D saw the astonished expression of pain and defeat upon his father's face, before the tentacles pulled. The force of their strength not only pulled his limbs from the flesh, but rendered the whole of the Sacred Ancestor into a formless mass of flesh and viscera that gushed impotently down upon the grass.

The Nobility stared in utmost shock at the bloodied remains of their former leader. There was the faintest hint of a gleeful expression in the hideous face of Cthulhu, and for a moment it seemed even the humans victimized with the Capital did not wish to scream.

A strange, rasping sound broke the silence. It sounded like an unlikely hybrid between mirth and a wheezing breath, as though whatever man was making this sound was not used to making it. The sound was coming from D. There was a twisted sort of smile upon his face, his fanged teeth where clearly visible as he emitted that strange sound. Only when it took a louder, almost maniacal tone could one realize that the Hunter was laughing.

D actually tossed his head back and allowed the maniacal fit run its course through him, none could see that a miniature face was staring up at him from the palm of his left hand, its expression bewildered.

As the Hunter submitted to this uncharacteristic urge, Cthulhu lumbered forward, the iron wall blocking the Capital folded like silk beneath his form. The beast moved relentlessly forward, into the heart of the city. Several of the tallest of the cities towers cracked, and crumbled into ash as Cthulhu swept past them. The cries drifting from the city grew into a terrified crescendo. The Nobility clambered hungrily after Cthulhu, their fangs bared.

Soon enough D regained his composure, but he regarded Dracula's pitiful remains with a cruel smile. How long would it be before he was resurrected? He found himself wishing that there might be some way he could befoul the twisted the remains. Making it a point to trample across his father's gore, D bent to retrieve the now colorless stone that lay on the ground.

"It seems the Sons of Sirius have failed." He commented vaguely, slipping the stone into the pocket of his coat.

"Looks like. But it could just be that the stone did not take to kindly being commanded by Old Dracs." Left Hand suggested eagerly. "Maybe Dracs just wasn't worthy enough to unleash its power. Come on D…I know your thinkin' it! You saw what using Alhazred's wisdom did to Old Squidly before, why not try it again?"

D nodded gently and turned to the gaping hole in the wall and joined the flood of Nobility seamlessly. "I'll try once more."

The Nobility had amassed before the fallen wall so that the terrified citizens walked into a death trap rather than safety, but D blended into the frantic crowd of humans as easily as he did with the Nobility. The only thing that betrayed his differences from the mortals was his pallid skin and the fact he was the only one willingly moving toward the city square.

Within the center Cthulhu was making a bit of dramatic show of his destruction, toppling buildings over with a push of his claw, snatching up humans and indeed whole buildings in his tentacles. He devoured the humans, and merely tossed the crumbling structures wildly about the city.

There were scattered armed militants in heavy, but rusted tanks that tried to ward off the beast; of course there efforts were to no avail. D found his path toward his alien opponent quite clear.

Cthulhu had been awaiting him. The beasts head turned ever so slightly, regarding the dhampir with roiling hatred before hurling the whole of a house constructed of wood at Hunter. The Old One had thought well in hurling an immense arsenal of wooden missiles at the dhampir, but D was prepared. He grasped his cape and pulled it across his body, its fabric was suddenly rigid and utterly impenetrable. The bulk of the wooden missiles stuck D's cape harmlessly, and the Hunter didn't even flinch as the incredible force of the impact broke across him. When he dropped his cape it hung as fabric once again and D ran towards the monster, leaping to an impossible height, and clawing his way up to the roof of a five story building.

Cthulhu's tentacles lunged for the Hunter, but D merely awaited the attack, and a split second before impact dodged out of the way with the grace of a dancer. After several failed attempts at this Cthulhu struck the whole of the structure with his claw, so that it began to crumble beneath D's feet but the Hunter was already leaping into the air. He seemed able to effortlessly grasp the smooth cement of another, taller building and clamor spider like on the roof. Again Cthulhu decimated the building's foundations, and again the Hunter leapt from its crumbling surface and onto another, higher roof top. Cement, glass, crystal or metal seemed to hold no obstruction for D as he leapt wildly from one building to the next. There was a method to his inhuman leaping; he was drawing Cthulhu toward where the highest crystal and metal spire rose. When D leapt upon its narrow rooftop that was dominated mostly by an immense crystal needle that seemed to pierce the sky, he found himself as near to eye to eye with the beast as he could be.

D unsheathed his blade, and whispered a certain, strange word. The blade threw off a bright, gleaming blue light.

By the time Cthulhu noticed the glowing weapon with his partially blinded vision his tentacles had already thrust wildly forth at the dhampir. D was quite undaunted as the innumerable tentacles shot towards him; he lunged forward as far as he dared on the narrow rooftop and swung his sword upward in a vicious arc. Whether it was due to the immense power of the blade, or the immortal strength of its wielder was unclear, but the blade met no resistance as it sliced cleanly through near each of the immense, trunk sized tentacles. On only the first swing D managed to obliterate most of them, a second and a third flash of his sword severed the rest.

Cthulhu reared backward, shrieking, the Gods body convulsed in a foreign torrent of pain. Black blood gushed forth from the wounds, and a formless maw crammed full of green, needle like teeth was exposed. The beast's primary danger against D was destroyed.

D sheathed his sword, and plunged his hand into the pocket of his coat, bringing forth the dull jewel. D gripped the stone tightly in his right hand and raised his left to face him, the gnarled face surfaced quickly. "Your turn now. I'll need to you to distract him. Do you think you can manage that?"

"Can't hurt to try!" the hand cried valiantly, pride coloring the tiny face.

He raised his left hand to the creature, pale flames rose in its miniature mouth and with the force of a blow torch flames as blue the ocean depths where streaming from the symboite's tiny mouth. Cthulhu was already writhing about in agony and swaying unsteadily on his claws so it could not be told if the flames that wreathed the whole of his horrific head, and cauterized the bloody stumps had any true effect on him.

D in the mean time had closed his eyes, and focused the whole of his consciousness into the stone that was clinched within his palm. Yet as he buried his consciousness into the depth of the stone he did not find himself aware of the molecules, and atoms that bonded the stone together…there where there ,yes…but it did not seem as if the bond that existed between them was where the true soul of this weapon lay. Rather D saw the darkness of the sky against his closed eyes, and against that oppressive black was a single, silvery white star.

According to the knowledge Dracula has seduced from Master Dalv, this stone had been fabricated as a mirror to reflect the baleful influence of the stars onto the beast, most potently that of the star Sirius. The stone was nothing more than an instrument to focus the power needed to overcome the God. It seemed that if D wanted to truly master the soul of the Sothis Stone, he would need to master the soul of the potent star it was meant to mirror.

The symboite had sensed his host's hopelessness, and in a fit of desperation was now spewing silvery white flames at the beast, yet if the flames had any effect now or before was uncertain. The beast was gaining its composure.

D had the sudden feeling that his soul was being projected far beyond the bounds of his body. It was only through the power of the symboite that his shell remained standing upright. Meanwhile the core of his being was flying wildly out beyond the bounds of Earth, and far into the blackness of space. As he was unbound by the rules of time it was not long before he found himself bringing the whole of the blazing star he sought into his focus. The star Sirius was an immense ball of silver white fire amid the emptiness of space, and was twice as vast as the Sun that life had sprung from. Another, smaller ball of silver shimmered at the immense stars side. It was rather disconcerting even for the steely Hunter to be staring at a far different sun set within an entirely alien swath of space. These stars had been unchanged for centuries and would be long after D had taken his last breath of life. For eons both human and Nobel would gaze up at the stars streamed across the sky in awe and jealously over there true immortality. Yet to the well educated mind even the stars where not truly immortal.

A sexless, saddened voice swept through D's consciousness._Your thoughts are correct. There is no immortality. Death must be. The race of the Earth had looked to me for salvation, yet I can do no more. _

D remained unfazed. "You can. Tell me your name."

The ball of fire responded almost despondently. _I have already aided the Earth planet. The emissary of Earth that called to me was cruel, twisted and proud. What use is the Earth race when they turn to him to salivation?_

"He was punished for his pride. Aid me now."

The ball of fire made no response.

"Very well…I did not want to do this." Steeling his mind D plunged his consciousness down into the pallid flames and molten plasma that made the star. Even though it was merely his spirit that had invaded the star D was utterly aware of the oppressive heat that was far beyond comprehension as well as the constant chaotic motion of the atoms that composed the celestial body. Yet without flesh and tissue, with only heat and atoms to compose the star it was all too easy for D to find the ever present thread that bonded all of it together. He felt the wild protest within the superheated giant as its soul was laid bare before the dhampir. "Tell me your name…" his spoke again.

_Stop this! All things will end, I cannot help that…_

"Tell me your name…." He repeated himself.

_No! What is this…you can't…what manner of creature are you!_That was the extent of the celestial object's resistance. Had it been a living, breathing being capable of complex thought D would have found himself at a stalemate, yet it was only a simple star amongst billions in the heavens.

The soul of the stars was far greater than anything upon the minuscule Earth; the skies would forever hold their sway upon mortal life. It seemed the power held within this star was especially well aligned with the Earth. Since the beginning of humanity Sirius had been worshipped as a beacon of heavenly glory, as hope for immortality after death. Whole religions had sprung upon its sparkling glory. Perhaps that wisdom was also what tempted the being into surrendering its deepest secret.

D felt the name vibrating through every molecule within the burning mass. _Kak-shisha._

D repeated the name softly, feeling the whole immense being fall beneath his power."Obey me. Find the mirror the humans forged for you. Lend me your power…"

D's physical eyes snapped open at last. Cthulhu was steady upon his feet now, its formless mouth was snapping and drooling as once more it raised its claw pent on destroying the final skyscraper within sight.

A blinding silvery light was pouring through D's fingers; upon seeing it's familiar light Cthulhu's body froze with a transfixing horror.

D raised his right hand into the air. The light that spilled from it blinded everything but his black silhouette in its white glare. It flared a moment or two before the blunt of the light subsided slightly back into the stone clinched within his hand.

Cthulhu shrieked out a single, keening cry before the beasts legs betrayed it, and slowly, like the ruined city crumbling beneath it, the beast collapsed onto the ground. Yet life was still steering within the beast, its hulk still trembled, desperately it shielded its multiple eyes from the slender beams glowing from D's hand.

Every mind, whether alive or hovering near death could hear the guttural, although ragged voice of Cthulhu within their heads.

_What are you? How is this possible? How can a creature like you live as you do…cold, hated and alone, and still wish to defend this pitiful wasteland? _

D merely glanced harshly down at the disabled beast. "I do not live in this world. I merely survive in it; I defend those who hide from the shadows. I am a Hunter."

He raised his right hand again, although none could see his lips as they moved once more in that strange whispered word. Another beam of the blinding light raged down upon the mountain of heavy, oozing flesh.

_I've been so blinded. Mortals are stronger than I dreamed…you've taught me humility…_ the rasping voice spoke again, laced with agony. _I have glimpsed perfection. A mercenary against his own bloodline…the master of the stars…slayer of Gods…_

The silvery light faded again to a dim glow within D's right hand as the crimson light within Cthulhu's eyes died away into an empty blackness. The beast did not move again.

A deep silence proceeded again over the Capital. Almost immediately the glow within the Sothis Stone died almost completely, residing only as the faint glow that it had once been, and the body of the God began to fade away into nothingness. Within only a matter of moments Cthulhu's corpse had faded into the very air, leaving only his astronomical devastation in his wake.

The first sound that rose from the streets was the cacophony of shrieks from the pale skinned Nobility caught defenseless in the sunlight. It appeared with the downfall of their leader their immunity had faded as well.

The next was hesitant at first, but soon it grew to a wild cry that swelled even louder than the dying shrieks of hundreds of Nobles. It was the victory cries of the survivors.

D remained utterly unmoving upon the single tower left standing in the Capital, his face expressionless.


	9. Chapter 9:Home

**Cthulhu Dawn**

**Chapter 9: Home**

_Note: Sorry for the delay! Life drama and such. Anyway this chapter is mostly setting up for Part Three. Plus I just had to give D one more sad/romantic moment. Each story shall have a Luna memory toward the end that I never put in __**Illusions**__ for fear of being to sappy. I think they fit better as memories. Can anyone tell I have been reading Twilight? _

* * *

"_I escape every now and then, and to think I find myself back here again, and again and again. I used to know who I was until you came along. I return to the only place I've ever felt that I belong." – Home, NIN_

"_And so the lion fell in love with the lamb." – Twilight, Stephanie Meyer._

When the sun had set upon that bloody day D had already rose from the shade in which he'd been resting and again donned his hat and sword. He quickly found that the throngs of celebrating, drunken people were almost as repulsive and ubiquitous as Cthulhu. The survivors had every reason to be celebrating, while the destruction of the decrepit city was almost total, and thousands had died in a mere half hour, thousands more had survived to see another day. The city could rebuild and perhaps rise beyond the grim ruin it had fallen into.

The crowd was especially thick at the singular tower where D had claimed his victory and naturally this was the location the mayor had chosen for their meeting.

"Awwww come on! We oughtta stop for a few drinks! _Come on!_ This celebration was practically made for you, and the guest of honor HAS to get plastered!" Left Hand protested in almost misery.

"You're welcome to join the celebrations by yourself."

The hand sighed, 'Well that's not exactly fun. A crawling hand cannot exactly reach the booze, plus I'll get stepped on a lot. You never live for a freaking second…"

It took a good portion of D's strength to muscle through the crowd and at last step inside of the tower. The mayor was already awaiting him in the vast crystal and marble lobby. Save for the lifeless appearance of his dark eyes there was no indication that he was partially cybernetic. He moved as fluidly as any human as he sank down onto his knees and bowed low before D.

The act took the Hunter quite by surprise, "There is no need to do that." He said quickly.

The mayor rose and held out his hand to grasp D's but the Hunter made no sign to shake it, quite unwilling to risk to use of his sword arm.

"Vampire Hunter D…it seems the legends were true about you. You are just as I had heard: rigid, emotionless and unworldly. It takes far more than your average dhampir to become the undying legend that you have become, but this morning you became for more than a legendary beacon. You became a hero for all humanity."

"Thank you." D answered, although his words were more aloof than anything else.

"We have been such fools to persecute your race" Said the mayor swiftly.

"No." D answered firmly, "Humanity had every reason to fear the darkness that curses my bloodline."

The mayor nodded softly. "I understand that Hunters do not work without compensation, therefore I am prepared to offer you 2 billion dalas, and anything else that you wish. There is no possible way for the people to repay you enough. We…"

D interrupted him. "I was born in this city long ago. Keep your money and use it to restore it the glory that I once knew. I have already been fairly compensated; I have only one request to make."

"What would that be?" even the cybernetic man seemed dumbfounded by his response.

"I would like the use of a flying machine. I still have business to attend to on the Primal shore."

"Of course Mr. D," the mayor nodded, "You may report to the Eastern Quarter, a few of the hangers have survived. I'll contact them right away."

D nodded and touched his right hand to the wide brim of his hat, "Godspeed to you and your city." Without a further word D turned and left the building. His face was utterly rigid as he faced the drunken populous and descended down the wide marble steps. Swiftly his vision was drawn to the right were a child of no more than ten was crouched in the gathering shadows, her pale eyes were burning with rapt curiosity as she gazed at D. Tenderness dared to show itself across D's exquisite features as he paused and gazed at the child. She stepped shyly forth from the darkness and allowed her gaze to flood over the dhampir.

"Mr…" she began, her voice was suffused with both sorrow and fascination, "I…I lost my Mommy, and my Daddy today, but thanks to you I still have my big brother."

D nodded, "You need to be brave now, it will be very hard, I know, but it will get better. My father was never around for us, I had to learn quickly how to grow up. You'll be stronger than you thought you ever could be in a few years. I am sorry that anyone died today."

The child shook her head. "You don't understand…we had no hope. I saw the monster coming; I think almost everyone did in their dreams long before we saw it. People were dying long before it came…we had no hope, until you came along Mr. Hunter. Without you every one of us would be dead. Thank you!"

With those words the child fell to her knees and bowed low to D. Before he could protest this action once more another in the crowd had imitated her, followed by another and then another. Almost in unison the rest of the throng of survivors sank low and bowed their heads before their reluctant hero.

This time emotion could not be hidden from the dhampir's shocked visage.

* * *

With the aid of the aircraft D reached the Primal Shore in only a day, the sun was sinking slowly into the horizon as R'lyeh came into view, the waning sunlight was throwing off golden rays on the alien stone. Its once formidable profile seemed somehow muted, and the imposing obelisk that D had sought once more no longer pierced the sky with quite so much power. As he hovered closer he saw that the whole of the island appeared to be sinking back from the depths which it had come from a year ago. The water had almost submerged the whole of the staircase, and was starting to trickle across the flat plain in which the Cthulhu's followers had gathered.

He effortlessly landed the craft here and moved toward the temple where the obelisk rose as though it defiance of its doom. A vast cloud of carrion birds had flooded the air and the rocks, they where feasting upon the large array of corpses that were scattered before the temple. The bird's squawked in protest as D moved past them and rose into the air, most of the corpses had been picked over into blood stained bones.

It looked as though Cthulhu had never awakened judging by the again smooth, unworldly angles of the temple. The door way was once again sealed. It seemed almost mandatory for D to raise his left hand to the smooth stone; he knew that something vital was missing.

"Is Cthulhu in there?" he inquired softly of the symboite, while the nail of his forefinger seemed to sink smoothly into the stone as if it were no more than supple flesh.

"Yup…but whether he's alive or dead is anyone's guess, see that's the problem with Cthulhu. He's been dead but dreaming for thousands of years. It's hard to tell if he's dead-dead this time…no clue."

D's finger moved easily across the stone; gouging a deep, even crack. He pulled it across again and again, making a familiar shape. When he was finished the Elder Seal was once again craved upon the door.

"Well, I suppose it's regardless as to whether he will awaken or not once again. I don't intend to live long enough for the stars to become aligned once more." D said calmly as he regarded the symbol.

"You really mean that?" the gruff voice spoke, sounding rather sorrowful, "Once your done killing Dracula's vessels than your just done for? You won't even try to just settle down and live a little?"

"No."

"You do realize that Dracs is seriously regretting telling you this now that he's seen you're more than capable of taking him down. He's probably making about a billion more of these vessels as we speak." The hand stated matter of factly.

"It is possible, yet I have an idea. In theory it should work. There is significance for the number 19 to me. I was 19 when I ran away from him. I was a slave for 19 years. I married Luna on the 19th of October. I was hibernating for 38 years, which is 19 times two, and I am after 19 parts of his soul. There must have been a reason that he stopped at that number, after 19 he found he could not bear the pain of sundering his soul further. His vessels beyond that part did not contain enough of his core to help gain immortality. 19 is the number of my destiny. It is my destiny to destroy him. "

"Yeah…well that is a good thought, but we have no way to prove it." The hand answered, "I am just a parasite. I've learned the fuck of a lot more about life than any other of my kind, but the physics of souls and destiny is way the hell beyond me."

"Still even if that theory does not work I have the advantage. Each time I destroy a vessel I am in direct contact with his soul. Over time I will learn to recognize it as well as I know the soul of inanimate objects. When it comes down to our last battle then I'll be able to easily find it and make it to surrender its true name."

"Wow…now _there_ is a thought! I think that might work." However there was still a tone of disapproval to the symboite's voice.

D threw his gaze the monolithic stone before him. Had it been one of the alien glyphs carved into its side that had given Dracula the spell that insured his total immortality? The throbbing aura about the alien stone made certain that somewhere Dracula was already whole, as well as seventeen more objects scattered throughout the world. But at least for now D had one in his grasp.

His plan was rather simple, yet if he had not been forced to use his long ago acquired skills over these past few weeks he never would have thought of this combination. He spoke to the symboite, "Do you still have the bullet that you caught from his gun?"

"Yep. Hang a sec…" the symboite disappeared only to resurface a moment later with the tiny glowing bullet clinched in its teeth. D unsheathed his sword and laid it down upon the rocky ground, and took the bullet.

With a careful motion of his finely shaped nail D punctured the lead as though it where mere aluminum. He was especially wary to not touch the caustic blue poison within that had claimed the life of his beloved, and has almost claimed his own. He poured the liquid down onto the blade.

The poison instantly began to bite into the blade, but a moment later the action ceased. It was as if the blade which D understood so well knew to react differently to the poison, knowing that was what its wielder would have wanted of it. Carefully D used a strip of cloth torn from the frayed hem of his coat to smear the venom along both sides of the blade. There was a faint hiss as the water encroached across the blade, but when D pulled it from the invading stream it shone with the same dull blue appearance as the dagger fortune had supplied him with.

Gazing hard at the obelisk D clinched the now changed sword in his hand and whispered a strange, familiar word, causing the weapon to shine brilliantly in the waning sunlight. With apparent ease he leapt onto the roof top and stood before the monolith. Already the object was pulsating as though in distress, the malicious soul that resided within it was already throwing up its defenses.

_You're such a fool D…_ a familiar silken voice swept through his consciousness. _Destroy this meager vessel if you can, but you have an entire planet to search for my fragments and even if you do succeed that will do nothing to bring your dear mother and your beloved Nymph back. That power lies solely with me. _

The Hunter was utterly impassive, well aware that the vessel was willing to throw any empty promise it could his way, trying to weaken his resolve. D was as stone as he raised his glittering blade and thrust it forward.

The Hunter was hardly disoriented when he found himself pulled headlong into a haze of white.

* * *

_D and Luna were lying naked in the long grass that swept across the almost heavenly clearing. The scenery was simply overwhelming soft, and beautiful, and the vivid hue of the flowers and grasses was simply to bright to be realistic. The trees that encircled them to one side did not sway with the wind, the puffy white clouds hung motionless within the sky. D recognized right off that this was merely a memory thrown defensively against his consciousness, yet he made not protest to submitting to its flow. At least Dracula was not yet present to disturb it, and at least this time Cthulhu was not here to corrupt it. _

_The two lovers were panting softly, yet it was of a blissful calm rather than of passion. Their lips where slightly swollen, and there were several passionate bite marks upon the Nymph's neck, some of them where bleeding while others were livid bruises. For a long time the two merely embraced the other, softly exploring each other skin before D placed his lips hungrily upon Luna's love swollen ones. _

_"What? Again!!" the Nymph half protested when they parted, "D, you're going to be the death of me!" Luna giggled playfully and attempted to wrestle out of his embrace. _

_D did not fight back and his face became utterly grave. "Don't say such things." He pushed back his tangled hair and rose from the grass. He stood and moved towards Luna's unworldly horse, the Nymphs eyes drinking in his naked form avidly as he retrieved her quilt and then returned to her side. "It's going to freeze tonight. I can smell it on the wind." Silently she pulled the quilt round her own naked body, while D donned his coat and slung his blade onto his back, before lying down on his side. Luna coiled her body against his, and D curled his left arm beneath her and pulled her closer to the warmth of his body, but his right arm, his sword arm, lay lightly against her shoulder, still free should he have need of it._

"_You're the only warmth that I really need D, you are everything that I need." She mused softly, running her fingertips across his cheek. "I mean that. Don't you ever leave me Dracula Murray. I'll wither and die without you." She closed her eyes and fell silent._

_He looked down upon her sleeping form, so content and so peaceful within his embrace. Countless women had pressed their bodies against D's unyielding one, yet never before had he let his guard down so fully in the embrace of any other woman, and never before had any other woman let her own defenses down before him. What had she to fear? She'd endured D's violence, his silence, his detached nature and his dark passions fearlessly. She wore the livid marks upon her throat with almost beaming pride, as though she took honor in letting her soul fall victim to his blood curse again and again. When she looked upon him she did not see D the Vampire Hunter, or D the dhmapir, or even D the unwilling hero. She saw only the man he was...whoever he was when all that was cast aside. _

_D had little idea who or what that man was yet the fact that Luna could dare look past his frigid facade and dare to bring that fragile creature to light was what enraptured D most about the devious creature he now held in his arms. The brief moments that they held each other was enough to cause the Hunter to dare to dream, to hope, even to care for her. _

_He watched her closely, making certain that she slept and he waited another moment more to make certain that the symboite was asleep lest any of the two dare judge him on the ridiculous words that he dare use to translate his affection for the Nymph. "I love you Luna."_

_He blinked as he heard himself speak the words, repulsed by the utter vulnerability of them. Mina had been the only human he'd dared to bind himself to with such words. Losing her had created a gaping hole within his heart and soul that had never yet began to heal...he'd merely built his life around it and hid it well from both his enemies and his lovers. He never dared to risk such devotion on another, yet it had happened all the same. He'd never thought to prepare for love to be a sudden and inevitable thing. _

_"You see D? You cannot control matters of the heart." When his father's voice met his ears D looked calmly up from Luna to look upon his father's face. The vampire was standing in the middle of the unanimated meadow, whole and sneering as usual. Upon seeing him D's awareness that this was merely a memory came crawling back into his consciousness, Luna's form became pale, and cold within his embrace. _

_Dracula moved calmly toward the both of them, "I did not ask to fall in love with your mother, no more than you asked to fall in love with that Nymph. We have that much in common at least." The soul fragment of Dracula knelt before the both of them, instinctively D pulled the lifeless image of his beloved away from his claws, yet a clear, glassy nail managed to rake softly across her arm. Change overtook her as warmth surged into her body once again, once again took on solidity. Her eyes flew open, and she grasped D's hand desperately, wrapped her arms about him possessively before she faded just as quickly._

_"You see I don't lie D. If I have the power to give a memory a breath of life it did not possess before then imagine what I can do in the physical. So long as a mortal fragment of her remains on the Earth than my powers are limitless. My offer remains, think it though before you spend the next thousand years chasing my shadows. Give it up and I will forgive you. I'll give back what I have taken."_

_D did not need to think it through, "No. I have but one dream now and it is not of Luna. I will not let you corrupt her." his sword rasped out its sheath and it seemed to glow like a shard of sunlight as it sank into the Sacred Ancestor's chest. _

* * *

The obelisk began to crack as D's enchanted sword sank easily into the steely surface, a deep fissure crawled upward along its surface before the whole of the monument began to slide and crumble pitifully down along the sinking surface of R'lyeh or else fell into the vast waves. Soon only a sad, jagged and lifeless stump remained to the beacon of the devilish city. D did not pause to gaze at the monument, knowing that he was successful as he climbed back into the aircraft. "It seems as if I am making one last stop." He mused to himself as he powered the craft up once more.

When he landed the craft just outside the ring of ghosts and rotting homes that was all the was left of the village of Cthulhu, D punched in a series of coordinates in the flying machine, and sent the message back to the Capital so that they could send someone to retrieve the machine. By then only a few of the taller and jagged peaks remained of the beasts own sinking city.

As D stepped past the shimmering circle of ghosts he headed directly toward the solitary willow in the outskirts of the ruins. Once more he was struck by the sad beauty of the tree and could not help but to wonder just what profound connection he had to this hillside. D slowly pushed back the swaying veil of leaves and in the shadows he immediately saw a hazy glimmer. Luna's spirit stepped forward, her large eyes where bright with the prospect of an Earthly visitor, her smile would have been radiant had she been of flesh and blood. She reached out her hand to his, seemingly unaware that they did not touch. "You do not fear me." she proclaimed softly.

He nodded solemnly, momentarily he looked as though his composure might fail, "Can you leave this place, Luna?"

D had encountered countless ghosts and illusions in his travels, yet it was not often he communicated with them. He had learned however when doing so it was best to speak to them in a direct manner, and to use the names they bore in life. Indeed this seemed to grasp the spirits attention as Luna's face become shocked, yet oddly enlightened." "I...yes I can." she whispered the words as though unsure they were true.

D curled his fingers about the pale images of hers, wishing fervently for some sort of sensation between them. "Hold onto my hand Luna, I want you to follow me." He said anyway as if she were able to touch him.

He led her out of the shadows of the tree. A breathless gasp betrayed this sprit it as she stepped into the scarlet and violet haze of the waning sunlight. Once down the base of the hill D noticed that the sprit was attempting to move his left hand, her brow was furrowed with frustration as she failed to do so. He extended the hand to her, he thought at first it must have been the symboite that aroused her curiosity, but her gaze fell instead to the fourth finger of his hand where her old wedding ring rested.

"That is a curious thing. What does it mean?"

Each of D's fingers was adorned in rings, but she'd spotted out the slender wedding band. Perhaps there was hope that his plan might work.

"I'll show you. Follow me."

He kept on and moved back into the misty cluster of ghosts. Some of their eyes strayed to the spirit that followed D, as though dimly aware that she bore some connection to their present state. D was reminded of the myth of Orpheus, who ventured into the Underworld to bring back the woman he loved. He was told not to look back at her until she stood in the sunlight yet Luna already stood within the sunlight as D gazed forlornly back at her. He was leading her to eternal rest rather than life, with any luck after this night she would never again haunt him, at least not with her last imprint upon the Earth. Perhaps after this night the agonizing wound of her death might heal over into knotted scars. D raised his eyes to the spirits face only when he stood at the foot of the grave where her remains laid, where D himself had laid dead, yet dreaming at her side.

"Look at the headstone, Luna. Tell me what you see."

The ghosts face fell, had she life the horror would have paled her features as she stepped back, tearing her hand from D's. "No! No...that...that's me! No...how..." her words where whispered before the anguish crossed her face. Trembling, the spirit fell to its knees, wailing in bright agony.

It was only the iron clad will of the Hunter that kept his face rigid as he spoke. "You are dead, Luna."

"Stop! Why are you doing this!" the spirit cried out in pain, tears would have been seeping down her cheeks had she any to shed. "I...I cannot think about before. When...when I wasn't feared. When there was...light...and another…"

"Think on it. If you want to end the pain, you must. Think back on what it was like in the world beyond what you see now."

"No! No, I have only ever seen that tree and those who fear me! Before was just a dream..."

"It wasn't." D said firmly, "This is the dream, right now. You're nothing more than a ghost left to linger in the world incomplete and alone. You'll never rest until you can face that."

The ghost trembled and let out another wracking sob. "I have to be here...for...for...". Her words trailed off.

"No. You don't. You can end your pain. All you have to do is look back, into the world of light. I need you to say my name."

The spirit looked bewildered up at D, "Your name?" the concept seemed far beyond her limited comprehension.

"Yes." he answered softly. He thought back on his chance encounter with Alhazred, on how he'd wished to use this simple spell on his mothers tormented ghost, yet he'd never found her.

His eyes waivered for a moment as his thoughts strayed back to that moment years ago when he'd at first voiced his adoration for the woman he sought to save a final time. With a bittersweet epiphany D recalled that he'd never really saved Luna the way he'd rescued so many damsels in distress. There had been one time that he'd kept her from freezing, but beyond that he'd never had to save her in the three minuscule years they'd shared together. Except for the end when failing to do so meant her death. "Say my name." he repeated calmly.

He knelt slowly down to her level, and touched her hand with his left one, bringing her old ring into her line of sight.

The ghosts face flooded with the briefest flush of color, for moment she looked almost as she had in life, "You name is D." The spirit grasped D's hands with her fleshless ones, her eyes were disbelieving as she took him in, and awareness was rampant within them.

His words were rigid, "Go home. Don't stay here anymore. He'll use you against me if you do."

She shook her head, "No! No D...I can't possibly! Part of me has to stay down here with you. I need you! "

"You'll never be apart from me." he said, moving her formless hand down to the ring. "You don't need to leave any part of yourself behind. I'll always find you should I need your warmth to guide me. Find peace."

She nodded softly, "I suppose even if there were a way, we could never have what we had before. I'll always be with you; I'll wait for you forever." She wrapped the image of her arms passionately about his neck and leaned into to kiss him. He met the kiss eagerly, satisfied enough to take its symbolism.

However it was not completely hollow.

Much like the flood of memories that were shared between them when they had made love D saw random flashes before his eyes, moments he'd long forgotten, trivial details he'd long taken for granted. The steady flow of images grew more lucid, and D witnessed himself dwelling within a land that roused a thread of longing within him. The landscape was vivid, whimsical and impossible, almost as impossible as the image of him clutching Luna tightly in his embrace. It could only have been the Otherworld in which he'd dreamed and forgotten. For 38 years he'd dreamed of this place where the warmth of his lover's arms, the rejection of the sword and the loving gaze of his mother's eyes were not utterly impossible as they were in life. He'd lain dead to the world of life, and understanding flooded him as he witnessed a passing glimpse of his own ghost dwelling with Luna's beneath the willow tree, while the core of his being dwelled in what he could only have termed as heaven. For a fleeting few years there had been no pain, no vengeance, or sorrow. There had only been peace.

Another cluster of images passed before D's eyes, one he did not quite know what to make of. The man he saw before his eyes was undoubtedly himself, yet he'd aged drastically. His hair was shot through with grey, and there were firm lines about his forehead and his mouth giving him a harsher, cold appearance. The aged D was breathing harshly, as though soon to breathe his last and desperately he reached up to the figure that knelt before him. "Look at me…." He groaned in agony.

The eyes that met his were Luna's.

The trail of images died away into mere emotions, until once again only the ghost of his beloved was standing before him. Already she seemed more translucent than before. There was the most serene expression upon her face as she stepped from him and closed her eyes. Her form disintegrated entirely into a sparkling haze of light that faded into nothingness within seconds.

He lowered his eyes down onto the marker that bore her name, and silently he pulled something out of his pocket and laid it down upon her grave. It was a single white rose. His features were utterly expressionless as he traced his fingers across the chiseled letters that bore her name. Had anyone witnessed the scene they never would have guessed that the ridged Hunter was recalling what it had been like to touch the curves of her skin, and reflected upon the tragedy that now only these blank letter remained of her.

"I am not coming back here again." He said stiffly. "This place was once home to me; you were once home to me. It's all too easy for me to stay, but I made a promise to you. I don't break my promises. I've released you from this word to spare myself the temptation of what I cannot have. Our time is over."

He smoothed his hand one last time across her name; it would never do so again. "Goodbye." There was the faintest faultier to that last word before he turned away.

Only minutes later he recovered his cybernetic mount as though it had been waiting all along for him, and he led it over to the shoreline. There was the slightest expression of regret upon his face as he pulled free Luna's old quilt from his gear, tore it to rags and cast them out into the churning waters. For a moment he cradled her wedding band in the palm of his left hand, knowing he ought to cast the last object that had belonged to her out to sea and away from the vengeful grasp of his father but his nerve failed him and he slipped the relic back onto his finger.

"Should you and I become separated sometime in the near future, you must guard it with your life." He commanded of the symboite. The symboite made an annoyed grunt of acceptance. D hoped desperately that by now all that remained of her corpse was dust, as the corpses of "immortals" had a tendency to fall away into ash years before that of mortal creatures once they had decomposed.

When the last frail rays of the sun had faded from the sky R'lyeh sank once again beneath the waves, the ruined spear of its obelisk sent out a frail ripple of waves across the seas surface before they broke. Above him the light of a star that D knew very well had unveiled its gleaming face, and cast the first dim glow to landscape. D's gaze lingered momentarily upon it, perhaps he was bewildered by the fact that he knew the soul of an object that had witnessed eons of adoration, or perhaps he was merely humbled by his minuscule size within the vastest of the universe. There was no moon tonight.

Darkness had fallen over Cthulhu's bloody dawn. The pale moon that had guided D with her beckoning light over the past 45 years had faded forever into darkness. The nexus of mankind had been thrown into such darkness that they now had no choice but to brave the black times ahead.

D mounted his horse.

"So….where to now?"

There was no answer, but D urged his horse back toward the land and into a gentle gallop toward the East. Before him the hazy band of the Milky Way slowly swam into view, as though now the galaxy itself was guiding the Hunter.

**The End. **

* * *

_I dunno about anyone else but I am rather proud with how this fiction turned out as well! I did all I wanted….incorporated Lovecraft and D, made D out like the ultimate hero and still kept him somewhat emotional. _

_I hope I can live up to my own standards with Part Three. I need a few weeks more to hash it out. I built D up to be a hero….but this time I want to tear him back down. I want to see his darkness. I want to know if our rigid Hunter is capable of pity and change. It shall be called __**Pale**__, keep an eye out for it! Let's hope I can pull it together!_

_Biggest of thanxs to my beta Master of The Boot! And to my faithful readers! _

_Until then, your faithful obsessive D freak,_

_Sarah "shallowswan."_


End file.
